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PAUSANIAS AND XERXA 
King Xerxes^ Daughter 



HISTORICAL DRAMA 
IN FIVE ACTS 



Founded on 

An Unfinished Historical Romance 

by 

The Late Lord Lytton 



"The dramatic situations have been obtained from Plutarch, 
Thucydides, Grote and other historians 



BY 

HUBERTA M. PLUM-WOEHNING 



i 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

NOV 15 1904 

I Copyrieni tntry / 
[UmX^ iff ICj^)U 
"CUSS /^ X^. Nor 



^io^^ 



PY B. 









Entered According to Act of Congress in the year 1904 

By HUBERTA M. PLUM-WOEHNING 

In the Office of trie Librarian of Congress Washington, D. C. 



BIGHTS OF TRANSLATION RESERVED. 



BURR PRINTTN^G HOUSE, 
NEW YORK. 



EESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 

TO 

ME. HERBERT MILLER, PORTLAND, OREGON, 

DISTINGUISHED INTERPRETER OF THE 

CLASSICAL DRAMA 

AND 

A LEADING ACTOR 

ON THE 

AMERICAN STAGE. 



PERSONS REPRESENTED, 



PAUSANIAS, Eegent of Sparta, the Victor of Plataa, Ad- 
miral of the United Greek Fleet in the Waters of Byzan- 
tium 

ANTAGORAS, of Chios, Captain 

LYSANDER, Officer, Friend to Pausanias, his father an 
Ephor. belonging to one of the highest families in Sparta. 

TJLIADES. of Samos, Captain, Friend to Antagoras. 

ARISTIDES, Athenian Admiral ) Athenian 

CIMOlSr, General \ nobles. 



THEMISTOCLES OF ATHENS (The Victor of Salamis, 
Athenian Ambassador) 

ALE^IAN, of Sparta, Foster-brother of Pausanias, a Helot, 
a Mothon (household slave). Poet, Singer and Warrior. 

CONGYLUS, Governor of Byzantium 

DIAGORAS, of Byzantium, a very rich nobleman. . 

ARTAXP]RXP]S, a Persian Ambassador and Uncle to Prin- 
cess Xerxa 



GYLIPPUS, a Helot, a Slave — 

PERICLIDES OF SPARTA, the Chief of the Ephors. 
DORIS, an Ephor — 



Persons Represented— (Continued.) 
A MINSTREL 



POLIDORUS, the Chief of the Five Spartan Equals. An 
Egyptian Dancer 

PRINCESS XERXA, King Xerxes' Daughter (a royal 
captive) 

CLEOXICE^ Daughter to Diagoras, a famed beauty. 



ASTARTE, Prophetess and priestess, daughter to Diagoras. 

ALITHEA, the Widow of a King^ Mother of Pausanias. 

PERCULA, Daughter to an Ephor, a young Spartan beauty. 

AX OLD LADY, Attendant on Princess Xerxa. . . . 

SYRA, 

IXDRA, I Attendants on Cleonice. 

APR A (a black slave) J 

Ladies and women attending on the Princess. Hand-maidens at- 
tending on Cleonice. Dancers and dancing girls. 

Captains of the Grecian States. The Spartan Equals. The Ephors, 

the Council of Five. — From the Representatives of the 

Spartan People. 

Two Jonian Commissioners. Officers, Soldiers, Guards, Seamen, 
Helots, People, and Other Attendants. 

SCENE-Byzantium a^b Spakta (475 B. C.) 



BYZANTIUM (CONSTANTINOPLE) 
475 B.C. 

After the victory of the Greeks over the Persians — when 
the Spartan Eegent, Pansanias, a Lacedaemonian general, the 
victor of Platsea, as admiral of the united Greek fleet in 
the waters of Byzantium, was at the summit of his power 
;and reputation, and of the awe which his character inspired. 



PAUSANIAS AND XERXA, 
KING XERXES' DAUGHTER 



ACT I. 

On one of the quays of Byzantium. In the waters of the haven are 
vessels of the Grecian fleet. To the right of the fleet is a vessel 
still more ornamented than the rest. 

On the prow were carved the heads of Castor and Pollux. In the 
centre of the deck is a pavilion having a gilded roof and shaded 
by purple awnings, an imitation of the luxurious galleys of the 
Barbarian. 

From the stern hangs a gilded shield and a crimson pennon. The 
masts and prow are heavy Avith garlands. A flag waves in the 
breeze of the beautiful evening, and exhibits the terrible serpent, 
an emblem of the policy of the Spartan state. It is the galley 
of the Commander of the armament, the renowned Chiefs 
Pausanias. 

Agreeable to orders he had given, the rowers are on their benches, the 
libation to the god Apollo, under whose special protection the 
ship was placed, had been poured forth, and with the rising sea 
the gorgeous vessel should move forth from the Bay. 

According to Grecian custom, to the rowers is allotted a musician, 
with whose harmony their oars, when first putting out to sea^ 
keep time. And on this occasion Aleman superseded the wanted 
performer by a popular song and the melody of his voice, stand- 
ing by the mainmast and holding a large harp. 

The larger proportion of the crews of the various vessels are on 
shore; and on the decks, idly reclined, small groups of sailors are 
assembled. 

1 



On the quay, in the front, are standing several Athenian nobles. One 
of them is Aristides, a man in the meridian of manhood, of a calm 
but haughty aspect; the other next to him is Cimon, in the full 
bloom of youth, of lofty stature and with a certain majesty of 
bearing. Down his shoulders flows a profusion of long curly hair, 
connected with golden clasps, in which is wrought the emblem 
of the Athenian nobles. 

The clasp that fastens the clamps upon the right shoulder, leaving 
the arm free, is of gold and exquisite workmanship, and the 
material of the vesture is of a quality betokening wealth and 
rank to the wearer. 

Now music sounds from the deck. Aleman sings the old Grecian 
hymn to the Dorian god of Light and Poetry. 



ALEMAN 

^^God Apollo : 

For thine altars do the seasons 

Pay the tributary flowers. 

Spring thy Hyacinth restores, 

Summer greets thee with the Roses. 

Autumn the blue Cyane mingles 

With the coronals of corn, 

And in every wreath thy Laurel 

Weaves its everlasting green. 
Hey ! ho ! Carnee ! Hey ho ! Carnee ! Ho ! hey ! Hey ho !- 

"Strong are those who win the Laurel ! 



For the brows Apollo favors^ 
Spring and Winter does the Laurel 
Weave its everlasting green." 

2 



(Rowers as in chorus.) 

"Strong are those who win the Laurel ! 
For the brows Apollo favors. 
Even Ocean bears the Laurel 
Hey ! ho ! Carnee ! Hey ! ho ! Carnee ! Ho ! hey ! Hey ! ho ! — '* 

AEISTIDES 

"Yes, Cimon, yonder vessel itself affords sufficient testimony 
of the change that has come over Pausanias, the haughty 
Spartan. It is difficult, indeed, to recognize in this luxurious 
Satrap, who effects the dress, the manners, the very insolence 
of the Barbarian, that Pausanias who after the fall of Mardo- 
nius at Platasa — after the glorious battle — ordered the slaves 
to prepare for the Chiefs of Greece in the tent of Mardonius 
such a banquet as would have been served to the Persians, 
while his own Spartan black broth and bread were set beside 
him." 

CIMON 

"His manners are spoilt by the people, the women, the 
delicious wine and the balm of the subduing climate — spoilt by 
the luxuries of Byzantium. I love the Spartans so well that 
I blush for whatever degrades them. And all Sparta is 
dwarfed by the effeminacy of her Chief . . . ." 

AEISTIDES 
"The gods are at work for Athens. See you not that, day 
after day, while Pausanias disgusts the allies with the Spar- 
tans themselves, he throws them more and more into the arms 

3 



of Athens ? Let his madness go on, and ere long the Violet- 
crowned City will become the queen of the seas/' 

CIMOX 

"Several officers of Jonia and the Isles have already openh^ 
and loudly proclaimed to me their wish to exchange the Spar-^ 
tan ascendancy for the Athenian/' 

AEISTIDES 

(Looking searchingly at his comrade.) 

"And with all your love for Sparta, you would not, then, 
hesitate to rob her of a glory w^hich you might bestow on 
your own Athens T' 

CIMON 

"Ah ! Am I not Athenian ? Though my great father 
perished a victim to the injustice of a faction — though he who 
had saved iVthens from the Mede died in the Athenian dun- 
geon — still, fatherless, I see in Athens but a mother, and if her 
voice sounded harshly in my boyish years, in manhood I have 
feasted upon her smiles. Yes, I honor Sparta, but I love 
Athens. You have my answer." 

AEISTIDES 

"You speak well ; you are worthy of the destinies for which 
I forsee that the son of Miltiades is reserved. Be wary, be 
cautious ; above all, be smooth and blend with men of every 
state and grade. / would wish that the allies themselves 
should draw the contrast between the insolence of the Spartan 

4 



•Chief and the courtesy of the Athenians. What said you to 
the Jonian officers ?" 

CIMON 

"I said: ^\Ye come here to fight the Barbarian, not to dis- 
pute among ourselves ; place us where you will' — even so now, 
while the allies give the command to Sparta, Sparta we will 
obey. But if we were thought by the Grecian States the 
fittest leaders, our answer would be the same that we gave at 
Plateea, ^Not we, but Greece, be consulted : Place us where you 
will !' '' 

AEISTIDES 

"Oh ! wise Cimon ! I have no caution to bestow on 3^ou. 
"You do by intuition that which I attempt by experience. 
But hark ! What music sounds in the distance ?" 

CIMON 

(Sarcastically). 

"The airs that Lydia borrowed from the East and for which 
Pausanias hath abandoned the Dorian flute." 

(The sailors rise, eagerly listening from the decks; there is 
now bustle, life and animation on board the fleet. From 
several of the vessels the trumpets wake a sonorous signal- 
note. . . . In a few minutes the quays, before so 
-deserted, swarm wdth the Grecian mariners, who emerge 
hastily to their respective ships. 

(On board the galley of Pausanias there is more special 
animation; not only mariners, but slaves, from the Eastern 
markets, are to be seen, jostling each other, talking quick and 
loud in foreign tongue. Hasty hands lay rich carpets across 



the decks and smooth into yet more graceful folds the curtains^ 
that shed the gay pavilion in the centre. The Athenians look 
on with a bitter smile while these preparations announce the 
expected approach of the great Pausanias. 

(Antagoras, the young Chief of Chios, who, hurrying- 
toward one of the vessels, caught sight of the Athenians and 
paused. Approaches them.) 

ANTAGOEAS 

"Ho, noble Cimon ! You are the very person whom I most 
desire to see. Aristides, too ! I am fortunate !" 

CIMON 

(Laying his hand with frank and somewhat blunt cordialitjr 
on Antagoras' shoulder.) 
^TTou cannot fail to be welcome at all times. But why- 
would you seek us now ?" 

ANTAGORAS 

"Because I will not endure the insolence of this rude- 
Spartan any longer. Will you believe it, Cimon, will you 
believe it, Aristides? Pausanias has actually dared to sen- 
tence to hlows, to stripes, one of my own men — a free Chian — 
a leader of ten men. I have but this instant heard it. And 
the offence — Gods ! The offence ! Shall this be borne,, 
Cimon ?" 

CIMON 

"Stripes to a Greek ! Thinks Pausanias that the Jonianj 
race are already his Helots, his slaves ?" 

C 



ARISTIDES 
"Be calm, Pausanias approaches. I will accost him/' 

ANTAGORAS 

(Eagerly plucking the gown of Aristides as he turns 

away. ) 

"I need not ask you, oh Aristides, why you seek Pausanias. 
You have learned through Cimon the escape of the Persian 
prisoners, Arimanes and Datis, men of the highest rank and 
influence at the Court of Xerxes. 

"Well, it is more than rumored that of late Pausanias has 
visited and conferred with them, through the interpretation of 
Congylus, far more frequently than became the General of the 
Greeks.^' 

ARISTIDES (calmly). 

"We will see to it, but keep by my side.'* 

(Now the music sounds loud and near, and suddenly, as the 
procession approaches the character of that music alters. A. 
minstrel, who walks bt^ide them, sings) : 

THE PRAISE OF THE SPARTAN" KNIGHTS. 

Multitudes, backward ! 

Way for the Conqueror ! Way for the Dorian ! 
Way for the lord of rocky Laconian ! 
Way for these heroes ! 
Keenest racers to glory, on wave or on shore, 
By the rush of the steed or the stroke of the oar ! 
On their bosoms the battle splits, wasting its shock. 
They charge like the whirlwind, they stand like 
the rock. 

7 



Multitudes, backward ! 

Way for the Conqueror ! Way for the Dorian ! 
Way for the lord of rocky Laconian ! 

Way for these heroes 

Wheresoever is peril these knights lead the way — 
Place them first in the fight — they claim it as pay. 
Hail the stoutest in war, hail the mildest in peace, 
The pride of Sparta, the bulwarks of Greece. 

(Behind the musicians come five Spartans, selected from the 
celebrated three hundred who claim the right to be stationed 
around the King in battle. Tall, stalwart, sheathed in armor, 
their shields slung at their backs, their crests of plumage or 
horsehair waving over their strong and stern features, these 
hardy warriors betrayed to the keen eye of Aristides their sul- 
len discontent at the part assigned to them in the luxurious 
procession; their brows are knit, their lips contracted, and 
each of them who catches the glance of the Athenians turns his 
eyes as half in shame, half in anger, to the ground. 

(Coming now upon the quay, opposite to the vessel of 
Pausanias, from which is suspended a ladder of silken cords, 
the procession stops and, opening on either side, leaves space 
in the midst for the commander.) 

ANTAGOEAS 
(To Cimon). 
"He comes ! By Hercules ! Is it the Conqueror of Mar- 
donius, or the Ghost of Mardonius himself T^ 

(The victor of Plataea, Pausanias, wore the flowing gorgeous 

8 



garment of the Mede. His long gown, covered with flo'.vers 
wrought in golden tissue, swept the earth, and instead of the 
Spartan hat the high Median cap or tiara crowned his long 
black hair, while — what of all was hateful to Grecian eyes — 
he wore the curved cimeter and short dirk that were the 
national weapons of the Barbarians. By the side of Pausanias 
is a man whose dark beard is already sown with gray, the 
features sharp, the visage lean, the eyes vivid and sparkling as 
those of a lynx — it is Congylus. Pausanias lias just given to 
him the government of Byzantium, and has entrusted to him 
the custody of the Persian prisoners captured in that port. 

(He glances quickly and pryingly around, till his eyes rest 
Upon the Athenians, with the young Chian standing in their 
rear. He touches the arm of Pausanias.) 

COXGYLUS 

"The Athenian Captains are here to do you homage/' 
(Pausanias turns and Aristides approaches.) 

ARISTIDES 

"If it please you, Pausanias, Cimon and myself, the leaders 
of the Athenians, would crave a hearing upon certain mat- 
ters '' 

PAUSAXIAS 

"Son of Lysimachus, say on.^^ 

ARISTIDES 

(Lowering his voice and with a smile.) 
"Your pardon, Pausanias, this is too crowded a Council 
Hall. May we attend you on board of your galley ?" 

9 



PAUSANIAS 
(Haughtily). 
"Not so; the morning to affairs, the evening to recreation _ 
We shall sail in the bay to see the moon rise, and if we indulge 
in consultations it will be over our wine-cups." 

ANTAGORAS 

"Well, then, no matter if the whole city hears what we have: 
to address to Pausanias — it is to complain." 

PAUSANIAS 

"Ay, I doubt it not. The Jonians are eloquent in grum- 
bling." 

ANTAGOEAS 

"It was not found so at Plataea." 

PAUSANIAS 
"Your wit exceeds your experience. But my time is; 
short." 

ANTAGORAS 
"In the name of my countrj^men I demand justice." 

ULIADES 

(Who had joined the group unobserved, doggedly.) 
"And I also, Uliades of Samos, I demand justice. What by" 
the gods! Are we to be all equals in the days of battle? 
'My good sir, march here,^ and ^My dear sir, just run into that: 

10 



breach;' and yet when ive have won the victory and should 
share the glory, is one State, nay, one man, to seize the whole 
and deal out tough cowhides and iron anchors to his com- 
panions, and giving orders to the unworthy punishment b}" 
standing all day in the open sun with the weight of those 
anchors on their shoulders ? 

"No, Spartan, this is not my view of the case ; you suffer in 
the eyes of Greece by this misconduct. To Sparta itself I 
appeal, for if you tarry here longer in the command thou wilt 
render all the allied enemies to thy country." 

PAUSANIAS 

(To Aristides, with calm sarcasm, though his eye shot fire.) 
"You have prepared a notable scene for the commander of 
your forces, son of Lysimachus." 

(Changing the tone of his voice, he stamps his foot vehe- 
mently to the ground.) 

"Enough, we owe no account to our inferiors ; we render no 
explanations save to Sparta and her Ephors.'' 

ULIADES 

"So be it then; we have our answer, and you will hear of 
our appeal !" 

PAUSANIAS 

"l\rean you to threaten me — Me — wdth carrying the busy 
tales of your disaffection to the Spartan Government?" 

CIMON 

"Pausanias, you must guess why we have sought you . . . 

11 



The angry excitement at the news of the escape of the Persian 
prisoners, Arimanes and Datis, is the cause which leads us to 
your presence. These prisoners were our noblest; their cap- 
ture the reward of our common; they were Generals, more- 
over, of high skill and repute. They became experienced to 
our Grecian warfare. Those two men, should Xerxes again 
invade Greece, are worth more to his service than half the 
nations whose myriads crossed the Hellespont. But this is not 
all. Arimanes has the greatest influence over Xerxes — we all 
knew that the great King would at any cost seek to regain the 
liberty of his friend. We could have urged upon Arimanes 
the wisdom of a peace with the Greeks even on tJieir own 

terms It is treason at home which can alone 

appall us. 

(There is a long murmur among the Jonians at these 
words.) 

PAUSANIAS 

(Ironically). 
^^Treason ! Son of Miltiades, and from whom ?" 

CIMON 

"Such is the question that we would put to thee, Pausanias 
— to thee whose eyes, as leader of our armies, are doubtless 
vigilant, daily and nightly, over the interests of Greece." 

PAUSANIAS 

"I am not blind, but I am not Argus. If thou hast dis- 
covered aught, speak boldly." 

12 



CIMON 

"Thou hast made Congylus the Eretrerian Governor of 
Byzantium; for what great service we know not. But he has 
lived much in Persia." 

PAUSANIAS 

"For that reason he is better enabled to penetrate her 
designs and counteract her ambition." 

CIMON 

"Wisely or not, Sparta is now in command at Byzantium, 
and it behooves her to maintain, with the dignity she assumes, 
the interests she represents. But, Pausanias, Congylus is well 
known to have often frequented the Persian captives in their 
confinement." .... 

PAUSANIAS 

"In this he had my commands." 

CIMON 
(Raising his voice) . 
"Had he also thy command to leave thy galley last night and 
to return to the Citadel?'' 

PAUSANIAS 

"He had! What Iheuy^^ 

CIMON 
"On his return the Persians disappeared — a singular chance, 
truly — but that is not all. Last night, before he returned to 

13 



the Citadel, Congylus was perceived — alone — in a retired spot 
on the outskirts of the city." 

PAUSANIAS 

CIMON 

(Draws from his vest some pearls). 

"Alone. This spot was out of the path he should have taJcen. 
By this spot, on the soft soil, are the marks of hoofs, and in the 
thicket close by were found these witnesses, a handful of the 
pearls only worn hy Arimanes." 

POLIDORUS. 
"There is something in this which requires at least exam- 
ination. May it please Pausanias to summon Congylus 
hither P' 

PAUSANIAS 

"You have spoken well, Polidorus. This matter must be 
sifted." 

(Pausanias orders a Spartan to summon Congylus, who had 
gone aside. The Governor of Byzantium advances slowly. 
With a calm salutation, he scrutinizes with apparent indiffer- 
ence the whole group.) 

POLIDORUS. 

"It rests with you, Pausanias, to acquaint the Governor of 
Byzantium with the suspicion he has excited." 

14 



PAUSANIAS 

"Congylus, the Persian prisoners were placed by me 
■especially under thy vigilance and guard. They have escaped. 
"The captains of Greece demand of thee — as I — by what means, 
by what connivance ?'' 

CONGYLUS 

"Eaised by thy favor to the command of Byzantium, what 
have I to gain by treason or neglect. I knew these Persians 
well. I had known them in Susa. — known them when I served 
Darius, being then an exile from Eretria ; but when Darius 
invaded Greece I left his court and armies, and sought my 
native land, to fall or to conquer in its cause. Well, then, I 
knew these Grecian prisoners. I sought them frequently to 
Teturn to them, in their adversities, the courtesies shown me in 
mine. Ah ! You are Greeks — you will condemn me for 

humanity and gratitude But, with too great 

-confidence in their faith, I released by degrees the rigor of 
iheir confinement; that was a fault, I own it. Their apart- 
ments communicated with a court in which I suffered them to 
walk at will. But I placed there two sentinels in whom I 
•deemed I could repose all trust. Those men were — one ii 
Samion, the other a Chian. These men have betrayed me and 
Oreece. Last night, on returning to the Citadel, I visited the 
Persians — they were about to retire and I quit them soon, sus- 
"pecting nothing. This morning they had fled, and with them 
their sentinels. I hastened first to send soldiers in search of 
ihem; and, secondly, to inform Pausanias. If I have erred I 
isubmit to your punishment. Punish my error, but acquit my 
iionesty.'' 

15 



CIMON 

"But what led thee far from thy path to the fields near the- 
Temple of Aphrodite, between the Citadel and the Bay ? Thy 
color changes. Mark him, Greeks. Quick, thine answer." 

CONGYLUS 

(There is a pause; but then he points to Pausanias.) 
"Cimon, question me no further. I dare not speak !" 

PAUSANIAS 

(In fury). 
"Congylus, I know not what tale trembles on thy lips; but 
be it what it may, give it voice. I command thee !" 

CONGYLUS 

(In a low voice). 

"Thou thyself — thou wert the cause that led me toward the 
Temple of Aphrodite." 

(At these words there is a general murmur; every Greek 
wants to rush near. The Spartan attendants in the rear of 
Pausanias draw close to his person. Pausanias alone remains 
unmoved. Waving his hand, with haughty eyes, he meets the 
gaze of the assembly.) 

PAUSANIAS 

"In the name of all Greece, whose Chief I am, whose pro- 
tector I have once been, I command ye to be quiet and listen 

to the Eretrian. Spartans fall back Governor 

of Byzantium, pursue your tale." 

16 



CONGYLUS 

*^Yes, Pausanias, you alone were the cause that drew me 
from my rest. I would fain be silent, but" 

(Pausanias looks fiercely; and measures the space between 
himself and Congylus, who draws back some spaces.) 

PAUSANIAS 
"Say on . . . ." 

CONGYLUS 

"I place myself, oh Greeks, under your protection. . . . 
Learn, then, that Pausanias is not without weakness ; he loves 
a maiden — a Byzantine — Cleonice, the daughter of Diagoras.'' 

(The gay Jonians smile; but an exclamation of jealous 
anger breaks from Antagoras. After a short pause) : 

CIMON 

"Is it, then, among the grave duties of the Governor of 
Byzantium to watch over the fair Cleonice, or to aid the suit of 
her illustrious lover?" 

CONGYLUS 

"Not so; but the life of the Grecian General is dear, at 
least to the grateful Governor of Byzantium. 

"Greeks, ye know that among you Pausanias has many foes. 
Returning last night from his presence, and passing through 
the thicket I overheard voices. I caught the name of Pau- 
sanias. ^The Spartan,' said one voice, ^visits the house of 
Diagoras to-night. From the heights near the Temple we can 

17 



watch well, for the night is clear; if he goes alone, we can 
intercept him on his return/ '^To the heights !' said the 
other. The trees hid the speaker. I followed their footsteps 
toward the Temple. The steps gained the Temple before I 
could recognize the men. I concealed myself, as I thought, 
to watch; but it seems that I was observed, for he who 
saw me, and how accuses, was doubtless one of the assas- 
sins. The men retreated as they came, unseen, not unheard. 
I caught their receding voices through the brushwood. 
Greeks, I have said. Who is my accuser? 

"/n him behold the ivould-he murderer of Pausanias." 
(Antagoras stands forth from the circle of the Grecian 
Chiefs, and with an indignant and loud voice exclaims) : 

ANTAGOEAS 

"Liar ! Liar ! It is I who saw thee. Barest thou dare to 
'accuse Antagoras of Chios f Standing near the Temple, I 
heard the murmur of whispered voices below, and recognized 
the form of Him clearly under the starlit skies. But He was 
not alone. I could see sufficient of the outlines of two other 
figures to observe that they were not dressed in the Grecian 
garb ; their long robes betrayed the Persian. I hastened 
toward them, but they vanished. / found the pearls thai 
"Cimon has displayed to you. I saw the print of hoofs within 
the thicket. Clear then, is it, that this man lies .... 
■clear that the Persians must have fled already.'' 

CONGYLUS 

"He who would speak false witness can find pearls at what- 
jsoever hour he pleases But, Ay ! Ay ! What at 

18 



-that hour brought Antagoras of Chios to the Temple of 
J^phrodite?'' 

ANTAGOEAS 

(Looks at Congylus with a curl of the haughty lip, but then 
i;urns to Cimon, who placed his hand on his shoulder. ) 

"Why should I blush to own it, Cimon? Aphrodite is no 
^dishonorable deity. I sought the Temple at that hour to meet 
my Love — she came with her sister to see me. 1 stood watch- 
ing for the parting of my Lovers boat, as they passed along 
"the smooth sands, till a bend in the wooded shore hid them 
from my view. It was just ten o'clock. All was hushed and 
l)reathless.'*' 

CIMON 

'^e all know that Aphrodite is powerful at Byzantine. 
"Who can acquit Pausanias and blame Antagoras ?'' 

CONGYLUS 

"Pardon me, one question. Is not that female heart which 
-Antagoras wants to soften towards him that of the Cleonice 

•of whom we spoke? See, he denies it not 

Greeks, Antagoras of Chios is a warm lover, and warm lovers 
^are revengeful rivals " 

PAUSANIAS 

"Son of Miltiades, I invoke your aid to appease a contest in 
which I foresee no result but that of schism among ourselves. 
Antagoras has no witness to support his tale — Congylus none 
"to support his own. Time and chance meanwhile may favor 
Tus in clearing up the darkness we cannot now penetrate. 

19 



. . . . We shall consult at our own leisure whether or not 
that course suffices to remove Congylus from the Government 
of Byzantium. Heralds, advance ; there comes our royal cap- 
tive, Princess Xerxa, with her ladies and attendants." 

(There is a low murmur at these words. Pausanias turns 
his eyes from the murmurers to Cimon and Aristides. And 
now with the dignity of the Chief he returns the salute of the 
officers. A low and muffled conversation is carried on in small 
groups among the Greek Captains, amidst which the voice of 
Uliades is heard the loudest.) 

AEISTIDES 

"Time will show. Farewell, Pausanias ; we will detain yon 
no longer from your pastime." 

ULIADES 

"Antagoras, let us summon our friends, and hold council 
on the Spartan's insults." 

ARISTIDES 

"Hush ! After issuing orders to pursue the fugitives'. 
. . . . we will confer anon " 

(Placing his hand on Antagoras' shoulder leads him and 
Cimon away.) 

(It is the ship of Pausanias that the royal captive. Princess- 
Xerxa, honors with her visit. All the Grecian Chiefs salute 
her and give way on either side; a murmur of admiration, 
circles through the Bay when the young beauty appears with 
her ladies and her attendants, for the daughter of the great 

20 



l^ing Xerxes is honored by the Greeks on account of her illus- 
trious birth, her wealth, her beauty, her taste for magnifi- 
cence, and on account of her lofty and aristocratic demeanor. 

(She turns and bows her graceful head Pausa- 

nias approaches his illustrious visitor and kisses her hand 
with courtesy.) 

PAUSANIAS 

"I greet thee, fair rose of Persia. This is most kind — I 
already began to distrust thee." 

PEINCESS XERXA 

'^Oh, Pausanias ! Thou knowest that I would come to the 
festival; but I became acquainted with a young priestess — 
Astarte, a prophetess, the sister of a noble Byzantine maiden 
— her name is Cleonice, and the v/hole camp speaks of her 
beauty. 

PAUSAXIAS 

"Of Cleonice! .... So ! .... But tell me, 
dost thou like the young steed I bought for thee? I guess 
it was that horse that you were riding." 

PRINCESS XERXA 

"Yes, indeed. Oh ! I like the horse. His eyes are full of 
fire and his step full of pride. Like an arrow we rushed 
through the air along the shore .... it was a glorious 
ride. I could not but enjoy that wild rush, through the 
sweet, soft air." 

PAUSANIAS 
"Where have you been?" 

21 



PRINCESS XERXA 
"I sought the Temple of Aphrodite/' 

PAUSANIAS 

"What for?" 

PRINCESS XERXA 
"To .... soothe my jealousy . . . ." 

PAUSANIAS 

"x\phrodite will have sharp work to cure thee of jealousy/*^ 

PRINCESS XERXA 

(Looks at him sideways). 
"I was told that thou lovest that fair Byzantine named 
Cleonice/* 

PAUSANIAS 

"Cleonice ! . . . . Cleonice ! Oh, I do not flatter 

myself that that would break thy heart But 

now listen. I should like half a dozen words with thee aside 
before we go to the vessel." 

PRINCESS XERXA 
"A hundred if you choose ....'' 

PAUSANIAS 

(Leads her aside). 
(A slave advances, salutes and hands Pausanias an etwee- 
case, out of which he takes a necklace. The slave withdraws.) 

22 



"Thy royal father, the great King Xerxes, did send thee^.. 
with the vessel Nausica, pearls, jewels, rings and this very 

costly necklace of rare diamonds And .... 

gold. Gold .... (laughingly). Perhaps he did send 
all this on account that 1 might not be ruined by thy extrava- 
gance . . , ." 

PRINCESS XERXA 

"You amaze me, Pausanias. My extravagance? Why, I 
am sure I am not more extravagant than a Persian Princess,., 
the daughter of the great King Xerxes ought to be." 

(Pausanias puts the necklace around her neck.) 

"But what else did my father send me? Xot a message 
that he will pardon his daughter? .... 

"If he would send me such a message then my soul would 
speak, in tears of gratitude .... But it seems he can- 
not forgive that when I could not win his consent to our 
intended wedding that after the fall of Mardonius at Platsea, 
when you nobly dismissed to our country his captive wife and 
my father's family, I, then a weak girl, mocked him, and did 
not return to his Court/* 

PAUSANIAS 

"No wonder, because I sat and listened to thee, fair rose of 
Persia. 

"The daughter of the great King Xerxes had captivated my 
heart, and I was at once converted by her grace and beauty; 
and so madly did I long to call thee mine that I tried hard to 
win thy consent to an elopement. Soon afterward, in a dark 

23 



night of storrrij earth shook and heaven answered 

I then succeeded in making thee follow me from the vessel of 
thy father, on which his family was ready to return to Asia, 
and I then recollected that just one year had flown when in 
such a dark night of storm, in consequence of the triumphs 
of the Greeks over the Persian fleet, thy father. King Xerxes, 
had to fly on a single bark, to recross the Hellespont. 
Fleet, armies gone, leaving behind family, camp and that lofty 
throne on the Attic coast." 

PRINCESS XERXA 
"Oh ! there are moments when I think I hate thee ! But, 
yes, there my father. King Xerxes, stood when last I saw him, 
on the battle eve, proud in glittering helm, expecting a great 

victory But, Pausanias, you speak as if I had 

acted with no pride, no sense of honor, ^Tis true thou caused 
me to fly from the vessel; but thou dids't not succeed before 
bringing the marriage certificate with thee and having given 
notice to the Clerk and Priest at the Temple of Platosa. But 
then, I gave my consent to be married to thee within a few 
hours." 

PAUSANIAS 

"Fair Rose of Persia, I was madly in love and could only 
act as my passion impelled me." 

PRINCESS XERXA 

"Pausanias, you have made me your wife. I saw reason 
why our marriage should be concealed; but now I am fully 
aware that I am not considered much of a credit to my family. 

24 



The time of acknowledgment has come. Keep thy word. 
Prochiim that Princess Xerxa, Hhe royal captive,' is thy law- 
ful wife. Proclaim our marriage as you have promised. It 
seems probable that that will smoothen matters." 

PAUSANIAS 

"That is very true, indeed; but did I not often tell thee that 
a law so fundamental in Sparta as that which forbids inter- 
marriage with a foreigner could not be cancelled — even not 
for me, the Regent of Sparta, and in favor of thee, the great 
King Xerxes^ daughter?" 

PEINCESS XERXA 

(With sparkling eyes). 
"Yes, yes, Pausanias, it was so indeed .... still it 
seems to me, seeing in thee the hero of all Hellas, so natural 
that thou canst make the laws of Sparta yield to the weight 
of thy authority." 

PAUSANIAS 
(Angrily). 

"Enough of these matters I want to have my 

own way in everything, and this, allow me to tell thee, 
Princess Xerxa, is thy situation." 

(Xerxa stands looking at Pausanias with a mischievous 
sparkle in her eye.) 

PRIXCESS XERXA 

"Why dost thou make thyself so disagreeable to me ? . . . 
If you wanted authority over me, you should have adopted 

25 



me, and not have married me. I am sure you were old 
enough." 

PAUSANIAS 

"Old enough ! Ay, there it is ! Thy temper is not at its 

best Now for my part. As for thy elegant little 

expenses, thou mayest spend as much to furnish thy dressing 
room with flowers as would suffice to turn the Pantheon into 
a greenhouse." 

PRINCESS XERXA 

"I wonder at thy talking thus. I have been born to this.. 
For my part I wish it was spring all the year around and 
that roses grew under my feet." 

PAUSANIAS 

"I think thou never appearest to such advantage as when' 
thou art doing everything in thy power to plague me. But 
now. as we have finished our daily jangle, bring thy lovely 
face in repose and rejoice in the green freshness of thy 

spring Fair Rose of Persia, thou knowest thy 

promise to come to the festival of Apollo Very 

well then, I presume we may go to the vessel and there I will 
give thee the fairest flowers of the gardens to bind around' 
thy brow, and Aleman shall sing his songs in praise of thy^ 
powerful beauty . . . ." 

(Turns around.) 

"Now to the vessel !...." 

(Pausanias advances with Princess Xerxa to the vesseL 
Officers lead her ladies and her attendants. His warlike five,, 
the Spartans, musicians, etc., follow.) 

26 



ACT II. 

Scene I. 

The Harbor of Byzantium. — The next evening. The scene gives 
to view the moon-lit ocean. Lysander remains motionless reclin- 
ing by a boat in the background. 

Pausanias appears, in the armor he has worn at Plataea, his head 
uncovered, his long sable locks gathered up into a knot in the 
Spartan fashion — he is passing the shore alone — he is arguing 
with himself — he turns to the front. 

PAUSANIAS 

"As Regent of Sparta I am General of her armies, and I 

have the sway and functions as her King But 

when wy nephew arrives at the customary age, I am a subject, 
a citizen, a nothing .... a miserable fool of memo- 
ries, gnawing my heart away amidst joyless customs. As the 
man never returns to be boy. so never, never, never once more 

can I be again the Spartan subject Dull, dull, 

selfish, stolid Sparta ! Methinks I could pardon the slavery 
thou inflictest on my life didst thou but leave unshackled my 
intelligence. Liberty in Sparta is but one eternal servitude. 
One cannot move, or eat, or sleep, save as the law directs. 
Why, this is souls' prison ! . . . . There have been days 

27 



when my desires swept afar from Sparta, from all Hellas, and 
rested on the tranquil pomp of Oriental satrapies. But now, 
since I love Cleonice .... a throne in stormy Hellas 
seems to me the fitting object of my ambition. Sparta is 
too small for me. My nature, once released from the cramps 
of our customs, expands itself as an eagle long caged would 
outspread its wings. ... 7 therefore desire to make a 
monarcJiy of Greece with Sparta for its head! ! . . . . 

"Soon I will have at my will a force that may suffice to 
overthrow in Sparta its grim and unnatural laws, to found 
amidst its rocks that single throne which the son of a demi- 
god should ascend. 

"From that throne I would spread my Empire over the 
whole of Greece, Corinth and Athens being my tributaries, so 
that men now and hereafter may say : 

" ^Pausanias overthrew the Spartan Government and 
annexed to the Spartan sceptre the realm of Greece.' 

"Through Arimanes, the grateful King Xerxes promised 
that a Persian army, a band of fifty thousand, should march 
at once to the Phrygian confines intrusted, to yield command 
to me when the hour comes to assume it. 

"Witli such an array, if my command be undisputed, I will 

win a second Platcea, hut against the Greeks 

It is not pomp and dominion that allure me, though I am not 
above the love of powers. Neither is it the great King 
Xerxes' glowing promises, though blood too wild for a Spar- 
tan runs riot in my veins It is my deep loath- 
ing, my inexpressible disgust for Sparta and her laws, my 
horror at the thoughts of wearing away life in those sullen 

28 



customs, amidst that joyless round of tyrannic duties. This 
it is, and this alone, that makes me (the words must come 
out) A TRAITOR TO MY COUNTRY .... onc who drcams 

of becoming a dependent on her foe Ah ! had I 

but been born an Athenian, I should have never uttered a 
thought against my country. She and I would have expanded 

and aspired together As I am a Spartan . . ^ 

Better the Chief tarn to a great King than a servant to a moh! 

Corae what may, I have thrown my shield into 

a fearful peril; hut I will wiii it back or perish! ....'* 
(Congylus appears.) 

CONGYLUS 

'^I have learned from my spies not an hour since that there 
is a conspiracy formed — a mutiny " 

PAUSA^IAS 

'^1 have ordered a general review of the vessels of the fleet. 
Is that to be the occasion for the mutiny V^ 

CONGYLUS 

"So it is supposed And yonder sails a danger 

which thou canst not, I fear, overtake. Look out upon the 

ocean There .... Further off, seest 

thou nothing ? Yonder ! I see nought — it foretells a storm.^* 

(Pausanias' eyes followed the hand of Congylus.) 

PAUSANIAS 

"A dim speck on the farthest horizon, if mine eyes mistake 
not.'' 

29 



CONGYLUS 

"The speck of a sail that is bound to Sparta. It carries 
with it a request for thy recall." 

PAUSANIAS 
"Art thou sure of this ?'' 

CONGYLUS 

"So I hear, that the Samian Captain Uliades has boasted at 
noon in the public baths. And from what I could gather the 
complaint is powerfully backed. I conjecture that Athens 
has not been silent, and before the vessel sailed Jonian Cap- 
tains were seen to come with joyous faces from the lodgings 
of Cimon," 

PAUSANIAS 



"Cimon's words would weigh most in Sparta 

It were ruin to my schemes to be recalled — until — until — " 

CONGYLUS 

"The hour to join the Persians on the frontier 

Yes; but if the Epliors recall thee before the Asian army is on 
the frontier farewell to the sovereignty of Hellas!" 

PAUSANIAS 

"Ha ! Tempt me not. Thinkest thou I need other 
tempters than I have here in my breast ?" 

30 



CONGYLUS 

"Pardon me, Pausanias, but temptation is another word 

ior hestitation Are not thy messengers, our noble 

prisoners, Arimanes and Datis, on the road to the great 
King Xerxes? Didst thou not say how intolerable to thee 
would be life henceforth in the iron thralldom of Sparta — and 
nowr 

PAUSANIAS 

"And now — I forbid thee to question me more. Thou hast 
performed thy task; leave me to mine " 

CONGYLUS 

"Pardon me, Pausanias, but the Grecian Captains demand 
iiudience. What .... shall I . . . /' 



PAUSANIAS 

(Passionately). 
^Bid them to wait, till to-morrow. 



99 



COXGYLUS 

(Whispers). 
"Hist ! Pausanias, is it not best to soothe them .... 
to play with them, to cover the lion with the fox's hide?" 

PAUSAXIAS 

(Turns with a frown). 
"I am sensible of the wisdom of thy counsel. On thy 
Tcturn to the Citadel thou mayest announce to the Grecian 
'Chiefs that Pausanias will await them in an hour." 

31 



CONGYLUS 

"Because it is while the Greeks are yet at Byzantium, while- 
thou yet are in command, that thou shouldst strike the blow. 
. . . . Listen, Pausanias, King Xerxes has sent thee 
gold, gold — , and he who employs most of those yellow orators 
will prevail most! 

"Yet if by chance ihou failest, hold thyself ready to fly 
with Princess Xerxa to the fair regions which the gods of the 
East have given to the race of Cyrus, to the courts of that 
wonder of the world, the crown of the East, to the marble 
magnificence of Persepolis. Ah ! And if thou wouldst marry 
his daughter Xerxa, what would be the splendid Satrapy in^ 
which the Conqueror of Plataea might plant his throne ?" 

PAUSANIAS 

"Ha ! There comes Aleman. I have to speak to him. 
Tarry here yet awhile, for now I consider it best to return 
with thee to the Citadel." 

(Congylus salutes, goes aside to the right, waits a little 
apart from Pausanias and Aleman and stands there in 
gloomy silence.) 

(Aleman appears in a Helot's cap and hide — in these rough 
garments — the cap half over his face, the Mothon approaches. 
Pausanias with an air of conscious triumph.) 

PAUSANIAS 

(Eagerly). 
"Well, well, thou hast mingled with these men, these 
Helots, among the taverns and wine-shops. Hast thou had 
occasion to sound these men? . . . ." 

32 



ALEMAN 
"But half an hour since '' 

PAUSANIAS 

"They do not hate me, these Helots?'' 

ALEMAN 

"Thou art the only Spartan they love. They will be true ta 
thee. Lift thy right hand and the ground where thou standest 
will bustle with men who fear death even less than the 
Spartans." 

PAUSANIAS 

"Their aid were useless here against the whole Grecian 

fleet ; but in the defiles of Sparta otherwise I am 

prepared then for the worst, even recall .... were 
my life in danger from the Ephors '' 

ALEMAN" 
"The Helots would rise to a man." 

PAUSANIAS. 
"Did I plant my standard on Taygetus to break down the 
Spartan Government, though all Sparta encamped against it." 

ALEMAN 

"All the slaves would cut their way to thy side ; they would 
fight for thee and their own liberties. 

"Oh, Pausanias, think how much nobler it were to reign 

33 



over tens of thousands who become free men at thy word 
than to be but the equal of a thousand tyrants ** 

PAUSANIAS. 

"The Helots fight well when well led. Announce to Lysan- 
•der that I await him, in order that I might confer with him." 

ALEMAN 

"Pardon me, Pausanias; but is it prudent to trust Lysan- 
der any longer? He is the pattern of the Spartan youth, 
and you do not know how Lysander would act in the final 
struggle which his character and fate are already preparing 
for him — between patriotism and friendship — his fidelity to 
jou and his devotion to Sparta? . . . ." 

PAUSANIAS. 

"Sparta ! Sparta ! Wilt thou not leave me one friend ! 
, . . . No, no, Aleman, he will not betray me; he will 
not desert me, nor I him. I love him so well that I would 
fain he shared my fortunes. Perhaps by little and little I 
may lead him on. Meanwhile, his race and his name are 
so well accredited in Sparta, his father an Ephor, that his 
very presence there in the boat allays suspicion. Well now 
begone, be quick, but wait over there." 

(Aleman salutes and approaches Lysander, who has hith- 
erto remained motionless, reclining by the boat. The Mothon 
salutes and addresses Lysander, who rises and advances 
towards Pausanias. Aleman has seated himself beside the 
ijoat. There is in Lysander's countenance, as the moon 

34 



shines on it, so much of anxiety, of affection, of fear ; so much 
of the evident, unmistakable solicitude of friendship that 
Pausanias mutters.) 

PAUSANIAS. 

"No, no, thou wilt not desert me, nor I thee/' 

LYSANDER 

(Mournfully). 

"My friend, my Pausanias, I have had fears 

I have seen omens Undertake nothing, I 

beseech thee, at which thou hast meditated this night \" 

PAUSANIAS. 

"And what hast thou seen?^' 

LYSANDER 

"I was praying to the gods for thee and Sparta when a 
star shot suddenly from the heavens " 

PAUSANIAS. 

"But the night is not moonless, Lysander, and the omen 

is therefore naught Hast thou heard that the 

Jonians have offered to me the insult of a mission to the 
Ephors demanding my recall ? 

"Grant that I am recalled from the head of this armament. 

I am dishonored in the eyes of Greece Dost thou 

remember in the last Olympiad that when Themistocles, the 
only rival now to me in glory, appealed on the Altis .... 

35 



assembled Greece rose to greet and to do him honor? And 
if I, deposed, dismissed, appeared at the next Olympiad how 
would assembled Greece receive me? Couldst thou see the 
pointed finger and hear the muttered taunt : 'That is Pau~ 
sanias, whom the Jonians hanished from Byzantium* 

"No, I must counteract this mischievous embassy to the 
Ephors. I must send to them an ambassador of my own. 
. . . . Lysander, wilt thou go, pleading for me, arguing; 
for me, and winning my suit?^' 

LYSANDEE 

"It is for thee to command, for me to obey." 

PAirSANIAS. 

(Placing his clasped hands on Lysander^s shoulder and leav- 
ing them there.) 
"I select thee for this mission because tViee alone I can 
trust And of me thou hast a doubt ? Tell me V^ 

LYSANDER 

"Never could I doubt I am a Spartan — unless 

— unless — . . . ." 

PAUSANIAS. 

"Unless what?" 

LYSANDER 

"Thou wert standing under Jove's sky, against the arms 

of Hellas " 

36 



PAUSANIAS. 

"And then, if some other Chief bid thee raise thy sword 
iigainst me, thou art a Spartan and wouldst obey?" 

LYSANDER 

"I am a Spartan, and cannot believe that I should ever have 
:a cause, or listen to a command, to raise my sword against 
ihe Chief I now serve and love/' 

(Pausanias turns and makes no answer. Lysander touches 
Pausanias lightly.) 

"My Pausanias, I am at thy orders. Shall I go ? Alas ! I 
read thine eye, and I shall leave thee in peril." 

PAUSANIAS. 

"Greater peril in the council of the Ephors. Thou shalt 
lake a letter to the Ephors. I shall say but little. I confide 

my case to thee Thou hast half an hour yet for 

oblivion, but then the ship will be ready, the wind favors. 

"Farewell, my Lysander ! . . . . The gods speed and 
jguard thee, beloved friend. With thee goes all the future of 
Pausanias " 

(Lysander grasps his hand in silence, more eloquent than 
vrords. ) 

"Be not ashamed of the tear that fell on this hand which 
jou clasped . . . ." 

(Lysander turns away and wraps for a moment his red 
doak around his face, but then he is hurrying toward the 
l)oat. Pausanias shades his brow with his hand and follows 
with thoughtful eyes the receding form of Lysander. 

(He is gazing after him — gazing long till — till — . . .) 

37 



ACT II. 

Scene II. 

Byzantium — A noonday. A most beautiful flower garden, belonging: 
to one of the villas of the rich Diagoras, father of Cleonice,, 
and the priestess Astarte. 

A fountain sparkles. The sward about is sheltered from the sun by 
vines formed into shadowy arcades, with interlaced leaves form- 
ing the roof. Afar through the vistas gleams the sea. Under the- 
hills, or close by the fountain, Cleonice is seated upon a grassy 
knoll, covered with flowers. 

At a little distance group the attendants — Syra, Indra — a black slave^ 
Afra, and the handmaids, engaged in embroidery-spinning, occa- 
sionally conversing in whispers. 

At Cleonice's feet reposes Pausanias. Aleman stands not far behind^ 
his hand resting on his lyre. His gazes are fixed upon Astarte^ 
the priestess. Cleonice is dressed in a robe like those of the- 
Jonians, the sleeves of the robe from the shoulder open long and 
loose and large golden clasps, studded with jewels of rare value^ 
join the shoulders. 

A necklace of diamonds and brilliant bracelets give to her dress an> 
appearance of affluence and splendor. She wears, to suit the- 
robe, embroidered sandals with high instep. 

Astarte is dressed in white vestments. Aleman now raises his lyre 
and sweeps his hand over the chords. The musical sounds pro-^ 
duce their effect on all. The handmaids pause from their work- 

38 



PAUSANIAS. 

"I have heard that measure to a hymnal song. Sing u& 
the words that go with the melody." 

ALEMAN 

'^Oh, son of Hercules, the words are not those which aro' 
sung before youth and maiden when they walk over per- 
ishing flowers to bridal altars — " 

CLEONICE 

"They are the words which embody a legend of the land 
in which the heroes of old dwell, removed from earth, yet 
preserved from Hades. 

"Sing them to us, I pray thee." 

(Aleman bows his head and begins) : 

TO THE BLESSED SILVER ISLAND. 

Welcome hither, fearless warrior. 
Voyage o'er the troubled waters 
To the blessed Silver Island — 
To the tranquil spirit-land. 
Even when between Olympus 
And Arcanus hangs a storm. 

Many wonders on the ocean - 
B}^ the moonlight may be seen; 
Towering statues of great Heroes, 
They who fought at Thebes and Troy, 
And the large phantom of Achilles 
Overshadowing sea and sky. 

39 



On the bless'd Silver Island, 

As the vessel touch'd the shore, 

Glimmer'd there amid wild roses 

A lifelike shadow of such beauty 

As the living see no more ; 

A shape of glory . . . with looks that 

Poets dream of. 

^This is Helen," says a voice of music low ; 
^She whose guilt unpeopled Hellas; 
She whose marriage lights fired Troy ; 
Helen's mate is here Achilles — 
Fairest prize to bravest victor : 
Know the beautiful and famous marry here/ 



PAUSANIAS 

"Thy song bears a meaning deepej than its words; but if 
that meaning be consolation, I comprehend it not/^ 



"Singer, I do/ 



CLEONICE 



ASTARTE 



(Astarte rises softly and taking from her bosom a rose 
kisses it and lays it at the feet of the singer.) 

"Were this my soul, I would ask thee to bind it in the 
Avreath." 



40 



ALEMAN 

(Kisses the hem of her robe). 
^^Art thou not, fair maidens, two of the many female dis- 
^ciples whom the successors of Pythagoras have enrolled?" 

CLEONICE 

"My sister and I have listened to great teachers of wisdom, 
:and I can only speak imperfectly the thoughts I have heard 
ihem utter." 

ALEMAN 

"Fair maidens, we in Sparta, whether free or enslaved, are 
not educated to the subtle learning which distinguishes the 
intellect of the Jonian sages. 

"But, since we left the land of Sparta — and more especially 
in your city — the center of many tribes and of many minds^ 
I eagerly converse with all who swell the stores which enrich 
the treasure-house of my song." 

ASTARTE 

"No wonder thou art born and licensed to be a poet." 

ALEMAN 

(Looks at Astarte). 
'"What is this world to him who came into it a slave ? 

ASTARTE 

'"Nature knows no slaves." 

41 



PAUSANIAS 

"Aleman, the foster-brother of the Heraclid, is no more a 
slave/' 

(Aleman bows his head gratefully, but the expression on his. 
face retained the same calm and sombre resignation.) 

CLEONICE 

"Alas ! Who in this life is really free ? Have citizens no^ 
thraldom in custom and law? Are we not all slaves?'' 

PAUSANIAS 

(Kissing Cleonice's hand). 
"True. .... All slaves ! I am thy slave, oh Cleo- 
nice! But let us talk of that what lies not so far amidst 
troubled waters. Who ever burns for glory sighs not for thy^ 
silver island, vain singer, and my soul soars to the stars — 
shadows in the shade are the dead — things bloodless and pulse- 
less, existence followed to no purpose through eternity. Wha 
cares so to live again? Not I." 

ASTAETE 

"And yet, one who has learned melody and measure will 
recognize music in them all. 

"Thy singer. Oh Pausanias, has learnt his art from a 
teacher more heavenly than the muses, and its name is Hope.'* 

PAUSANIAS 

"The Hope that inspired him is a goddess who blessed him 
little on the earth. But Aleman is celebrated in Sparta not 

42 



only for courage in war, but for arts in peace. He is a poet, 
and his strains please the Dorian ear, for they are stern and 
simple and breathe of war. We have laid on the same bosom, 
and his mother was kinder to me than my own. Helots who 
have been our foster-brothers cease to be slaves but have no 
rights of citizenship. Aleman has bound his fate to mine." 
(The attendants and the handmaids have risen and gather 
hushed and noiseless. Aleman seems to explain to Astarte the 
allegory of his marriage-song upon Helen and Achilles, for 
his hand is raised up high Lnd again he sings : 

'^Fairest prize to bravest victor : 
Know the beautiful and famous marry here.^' 

(Pausanias takes Cleonice by the hand, draws her to the 
front. Aleman, Astarte, attendants and the handmaids turn 
to the background. They all disappear.) 

PAUSANIAS 

"Oh ! Cleonice, I am not a gentle wooer ; where in Sparta 
should I learn the art? I do love thee with all that fervor 
of which the old Dorian legends tell. 1 could brave — like 
the Thracian — the dark gates of Hades were thy embrace 
my reward. Command me as thou wilt. Make me thy slave 
in all- things, even as Hercules was to Omphale; but tell me 

only that I may win thy love at last Fear not. 

Why fear me ? In my wildest moments a look from thee can 
control me. I ask but love for love. Without thy love thy 
beauty were valueless " 

43 



CLEONICE 

'^I do not fear thee, but — but — I fear -, t a /' 
(Draws back her hand). 

PAUSANIAS 

(Delighted). 
'^Ah, no, no, do not fear ....'' 

CLEONICE 

''1 have something I would confide to thee. Listen: 
Know that my dear sister Astarte — she is a few years older 
than myself — has the divine gift of trance which comes 
from Apollo? Often, gazing into space, her eyes become 
fixed, and her form calm as a statue's. Then a shiver seizes 
her limbs, and prophecy breaks from her lips. 

"And Astarte told me in one of these hours when, as she 
said^ '^All space and all time seemed spread before her like a 
sunlit ocean,' she told me of my future, so far as its leaves 
have yet unfolded from the stem of my life. Pausanias, she 
prophesied that I should see thee — and — (pauses, shudders 
and then hurries on) and she told me that suddenly her 
eye could follow my fate on earth no more, that it had 
vanished out of the time and the space on which it gazed, and 
saying it she wept and broke into a funeral song. And 
therefore, Pausanias, I say life is very short for me at least. 
. . . . Therefore do not . . . ." 

PAUSAXIAS 

'^'^Hold, torture me not, nor delude thyself with the dreams 
of thy sister." 

44 



CLEONICE 

"Dreams? Oh, Pausanias, Astarte, my dear sister, gives 
the answer to perplexed nations from the Pythian shrine. 
She is one of the prophetesses whom the Priesthood of Delphi 
employ. But wherefore doubt her? Where the sorrows?" 

PAUSANIAS 

(Kneels to the girl. He kisses the hem of her robe). 
"Oh, Cleonice, thou die ! Die before me ! Thou, scarcely 
half my years ! And I be left here, with no comfort but a 
singer^s dreamy verse, not even my ambition ! 

"Thrones would vanish out of earth and turn to cinders 
in thine urn." 

(He rises from his knee.) 

CLEONICE 

(With imploring softness). 

"Speak not of thrones, dream but of glory and Hellas. Pass 
to the side of the good spirit ; gentle deeds will make him to 
save and to bless thee against the malice of the bad. 

"And if thou lovest nobly thou must fly me. What result 
can come from such a love? Thou canst not marry the 
stranger — the Spartan laws do not allow intermarriage with 
a foreigner. And yet thou knowest that all other love dis- 
honors a virgin. 

"Awake to the true sense of what is due to thy divine ances- 
try — ^thy great name ! 

45 



"Pausanias, spare me. Appeal not to my father's fear. The 
laws of the Spartan state dishonor the stranger whom the free 
citizen stoops to marry. 

"Fly me. oh fly me, son of Hercules. Even human laws 
part us." 

PAUSANIAS 

(With great emotion). 

"I cannot, T cannot fly thee Since first I saw 

thee I loved thee. At first, when as good luck would have it, 
I lodging a few days under thy father's roof saw and admired 
thee. I cannot fly thee ! 

"Oh, Hercules ! Like thee 1 will spread the influence of my 
arms to nations whose glory shall be my name, and this hand 
outstretched toward a mightier sceptre than Greek ever 
wielded may yet dispense glory and golden affluence to those I 
love." 

CLEONICE 

"Thou amazest me, Pausanias. Now I fear thee. Hast 
thou the dark ambition to restore in thy own person that race 
of tyrants whom thy country hath helped to sweep away? 
Canst thou hope to change the laws of Sparta, and reign there, 
at thy will, the state ?'* 

PAUSANIAS 

"I cannot discover any path except that w^hich may lead 
thee and me to the marriage altar. 

"Oh, Cleonice, if thou lovest me I should rejoice in an hour 
when I might pour every thought into thy bosom '* 

46 



(Cleonice gently withdraws the hand that he thought to 
•clasp. At this moment there is heard a single note from 
Aleman's instrument, low but prolonged. It ceases and is 
again renewed.) 

PAUSANIAS 

"It is a signal! They await me. Cleonice, I had hoped, 
ere we parted, to have drawn from thy lips those assurances 
which would give me energy for the present and hope in the 

future Ah, turn not from me 

What, Cleonice, what if I could defy the laws of Sparta, or 
if I could bear thee to lands where heaven and man alike smile 
benignant on love ? Might I not hope then ?" 

CLEOOTCE 

"I turn from thee so with pain, for what worthier homage 
•canst thou render to a woman than honorable love ? 

"Gratefully do I hearken to the suit that comes from thee ; 
hut gratitude is not the return thou wouldst ask, Pausanias." 

PAUSANIAS 

"Say not so, Cleonice ; say not that thou canst not love me, 

if though I am to interpret thy words Love 

brings love. Thy heart will catch the heavenly spark from 
.mine.'' 

CLEOmCE 

"When as my father's guest-friend thou wert a sojourner 
Twithin those walls, oft have I heard thee speak, and all thy 

47 



words spoke the thoughts of a noble soul. Were it otherwise 

not thus would I now address thee Well, then, 

thou Pausanias asked love for love. This I cannot give thee. 
Spare me, oh generous Pausanias !" 

PAUSAKTAS 

"Answer me but one question. Dost thou then love 
another ?" 

CLEOiNTICE. 
"Thou sayest it; I love another.'' 

PAUSANIAS 

"And that other is Antagoras ? . . . . Alas ! Thy 
silence, thy trembling, answer me " 

(Pausanias groans aloud, and covers his face with his 
hands.) 

"Ah, are thy thoughts then upon the son of Chios ? . . . 
'No, no, say not that thou lovest Antagoras. Ha, say not that 

Aphrodite has so accursed thee Fear, fear my 

power ! Fear the power of Pausanias !.../' 

CLEONICE 

(Her form dilates, her lips curl). 

"Hold, haughty Spartan ! Not so ... . not so ! 

. . . . I fear thee not ! My heart, alas ! is mine. . . . 

The maidens of Byzantium are not in the control of the 

General of the Greeks !" 

(Raising her eyes and with a still and mournful sweetness. 
in her upraised features.) 

48 



"Yes, Pausanias, I love Antagoras, the Chief of the Chios, 
the young warrior ! I see our love has no hope .... 
Let him depart as soon as he must ; let these eyes behold him 
no more; still there exists for me all that exists now . . . 
a dream ! Never for me may the nuptial hymn resound or the 

marriage torch be illumined Oh, goddess of the 

silver bow, Oh, Artemis ! Receive — protect me ; and ye. Oh, 
funeral gods, lead me soon, lead the virgin unreluctant to the 
shades !...." 



PAUSANIAS 

"Fear not that I should wrong thee. To woo thee is not to 

wrong / asJc thee to hless me with thy hand, 

Cleonice, hear my oath: Give me thee as vrlfe, and in so 
doing I assure thee that I and lovers almighty goddess soon 
will set those cruel laws aside to give thee an honorable place 
on my side as my wife in my native state, Sparta; and that 
the haughtiest woman of the Grecian states will not be more 
honored as the Byzantine wife of Pausanias. But let thy 
father close his door on me. to immure thee from my side, and 
no armed slaves, nor bolts, nor bars shall keep my love from 
thee. And, Cleonice, thou shalt be Queen of all Hellas, de- 
spite thyself, despite Sparta, the Ephors and their iron laws.'' 

(Pausanias gives way to his passion — he wants to clasp 
Cleonice in his arms, and tries to kiss her forehead and hands; 
again the signal. Just then Congylus appears — his eyes 
glitter keen upon Pausanias, who startles and turns and seems 
to be displeased.) 

49 



PAUSANIAS 

*^^What brings thee hither, man T^ 

CONGYLUS 

(In a hissing whisper). 
^^^Danger — lose not a moment in coming !'* 

PAUSANIAS 

"What thinks, a Heraclid of danger !....! follow 
ihee, Congylus. Take my greeting, Cleonice. Eemember, 
the fairest prize to bravest victor ! The beautiful and fam- 
ous marry here." 

(Cleonice sighs and moves not, he waves his hand.) 

(Pausanias and Congylus disappear.) 

CLEONICE 

"Why do I not love him? And why do I love Anta- 
;goras so, and yet wrestle against my love? . . . . 
Because dark forebodings tell me that Aphrodite smiles not 

on our love W^oe is me ! What,- what will be 

the end of it?" 



50 



ACT III. 

Scene I. 

The evening of the next day. In one of the villas of the rich 
and noble Diagoras on the shore to the right of the port of 
Byzantium. 

A large apartment (half chamber, half grotto). 

'The ceiling of cedar- wood, glowing with gold and azure, supported 
by slender shafts of alabaster, between which are open arcades, 
lighted by elegant lamps. The whole of the background of this 
apartment is open to a broad and extensive balcony, and the 
clearness of the soft night gives to view the moon-lit ocean and 
the dim shadoAvs of the shore, with the dark woods beyond, 
relieved by the distant lights of the city. 

The pavement is spread with ottomans and couches of the richest 
azure, prodigally enriched with quaint designs in broideries of 
gold and silver. 

Cleonice and Astarte hear from below the sound of a cithara and the 
melodious song of a voice: 

A MYRTLE BOUGH. 

Maiden, I come with a gift to thee — 
I come with a myrtle wreath; 
I pluck'd the branch with a hasty hand. 
But Love was lurking amidst the leaves. 

I carry Cupid in this myrtle wreath — 
His bow is bent and his shaft is poised 
From hand to hand under the silent stars, 
O^ maiden, let the god pass to thee. 

And o'er thy forehead twined round 
I implore thee, my myrtle bough. 

51 



(Now a slave draws aside a curtain suspended between two 
columns. Cleonice has listened breathlessly to the words of 
the song — she is so absorbed that she does not for some mo- 
ments perceive the entrance of Diagoras, her father, with 
Antagoras behind him. But now starts to her feet, and 
stands before her father, her eyes downcast, her arms crossed, 
upon her bosom.) 



DIAGOEAS 

"Daughters, I bid ye welcome my guest-friend, Antagoras- 
of Chios. Slaves withdraw." 

(Cleonice and Astarte bow their heads, the attendants and. 
handmaids leave the room.) 

"Cleonice, I present to thee a suitor for thy hand. 

"I need not to remind thee that our families are united 
by the hospitable ties; that among thy treasures thou wilt 
find the gifts of his ancestors for five generations. A year- 
since, when his affairs brought him to Byzantium, when he 
came to visit thy father with the symbols of his right to 
claim my hospitable cares he first saw and loved thee, Cleonice. 

"He had told his love, but then his father lived, and he 
desired that, he a Chian, should wed a Chian. Since he has 
been with the fleet news reached him that the urn holds his 
father's ashes/" 

CLEONICE 

"May Hermes, oh, Antagoras, have led thy father to pleas- 
ant groves." 

52 



DIAGOEAS 

"His father was a worthy man though harsh. It is a com- 
fort to think that all does not die with the dead. His money 
at least survives him. 

"But now, Antagoras is free, and he asked me to bless him 
with thee, oh, Cleonice. Thou knowest that Antagoras is 
very rich, and thou knowest that his birth dates from the 
oldest citizens of Chios. No dowry he asks with thee, and 
this gives gladness to my heart, for that custom of dowries 
is abomniable. 

"Well, well, never bite thy forefinger and curl up thy 
brows. I tell thae, daughters are the plague of a man's life. 
First one has to keep away lovers, and next to find such a 
husband where one has not to put one's hand in one's chest 
to pay a tall fellow for robbing one of one's child.'^ 

ANTAGORAS 

"Diagoras, I know that thy heart is better than thy speech, 
and that, much as thou covetest money, thou lovest thy; 
daughters more." 

DIAGORAS 

"Well, well, but now listen, my daughter, seriously, thou 
sayest thou canst not love Pausanias, this great hero and 
mighty warrior, but this black-curled Jupiter has Life and 
Death in his hands, he can raise or ruin us with a nod of his 

head. He is fierce, irascible haughty And 

what slighted lover is not revengeful? But, child, if thou 

53 



lovest Antagoras for my sake, oh, Cleonice, for thy poor 
father's sake, do not tell Pausanias that thou art his bride — 

draw not down the thunder-bolt If thou dost 

not love the Spartan why thou canst but smile and talk with 
him, as thou hast done, and when Pausanias returns to his 
native state thou then marriest Antagoras/' 

CLEONICE 
"Why, oh, my father?" 

DIAGORAS 

"There is an expression of shame and sadness on thy 

countenance My child, do not misconceive me t 

Cursed . . . . be the hour when the Spartan saw thee. 
. . . . But since the Fates have so served us let us not 
make bad worse. I love thee, Cleonice, more dearly than the 
apple of my eye ; it is for thee I fear, for thee I speak. Alas I 
It is force I fear It is force I would shun." 

CLEONICE 

(Drawing up her form). 
"Force! Fear not that. It is . . . ." 

DIAGORAS 

"What then?" 

ANTAGORAS 
"Force ! Ha ! Diagoras, how darest thou speak thus ? 
. . . . I will speak to Pausanias as one speakest to men,, 
and I will . . . ." 

54 



DIAGORAS 

(Greatly agitated). 

"There you can see, Cleonice, these two Grecian fighting- 
cocks want no garlic to make them more fierce, I warn thee 
. . . . by the head of Zeus ! . . . . Youth, youth, 
wouldst thou see my daughter reft from me by force ?'' 

ANTAGORAS 
"If Pausanias wronged a virgin all Greece would raise 
against him." 

DIAGORAS 

"Yes, yes, but not until the ill is done, till my throat were 
cut and my child .... At first, indeed, when as ill 
luck would have it, Pausanias, lodging a few days under my 
roof saw and admired Cleonice. I did venture to remonstrate ; 
and how think you he took it? He turned on his heel and 
left me. But the next day came a Lydian in his train — 
with a goodly pannier of rich stuff's and a short Spartan 
sword. On the pannier was written, 'Friendship;' on the 
sword, 'Wrath f and a herald gave me a scrap of parchment, 
whereon, with the cursed brief writ of a Spartan, was in- 
scribed, 'Choose'! Who would doubt which to take? Who, 
by the gods, would prefer three inches of Spartan iron in his 
stomach to a basketful of rich stuffs for his shoulders? 
Wherefore Pausanius comes. But Cleonice humors him not, 
let tongues wag as they may. Easier to take three cities than 
that child's heart." 

55 



ANTAGORAS 

(Joyfully). 
**Is it so, indeed? You love him not?" 

CLEONICE 
*Tear not that ! I do not love him." 

DIAGORAS 

"Laughs at him to his beard, that is, would laugh if he 

wore one But now I see my presence is no 

longer necessary; look up, Antagoras, and speak for thyself. 
. . . . Cleonice, receive him as I have done, and he shall 
have leave to carve thy name on every tree in the garden. 
Come with me, Astarte." 

(Diagoras and Astarte withdraw.) 

ANTAGORAS 

"Fair Virgin, not in the groves of Byzantium will thy 
name be first written by the hand of Antagoras. In my 
native Chios the myrtle trees are already eloquent of thee. 
, . . . Oh, Cleonice, confirm the fair omens with which 
Aphrodite has received my offerings. I feared thy love was 
gone — gone by the wooings and visits of the Spartan Regent, 
and I burn with increasing hatred against my powerful rival. 
. . . . Maiden, wilt thou be my wife? . . . . 
Oh, Cleonice, I clasp thy knees ; put thy right hand in mine, 
. . . . Tell me, wilt thou be my wife?" 

56 



CLEOmCE 

"Oh, Antagoras .... Be it then as thou wilt 
. . . but— but— " 

ANTAGOKAS 
(He embraces and kisses Cleonice). 
"My own! my beloved one! .... Pausanias shall 



not come between us !^ 



CLEOMCE 



"Oh, Antagoras, thou art the object of Pausanias' jealous 
liate . . . ." 

ANTAGORAS 

"The laws of Sparta forebid him to marry thee, but 
fiercely as he loves, he cannot resist the sweet charm of thy 
presence, and I fear the hour is approaching when these laws 
should be trampled under his armed heel. Cleonice, thou art 
famed for thy great beauty and for thy intellectual cultiva- 
tion. Thou hast all that feminine fascination of manner in- 
expressible yet irresistible, which has so often made willing 
slaves of the proud rulers of the world. 

"Indeed, I fear an hour could come when thou shouldst 

Jiave need of man's honor against man's wrong 

Cleonice, I fear that thy father will be unable to shun the 
visits of Pausanias, and if thou shouldst have cause to tremble 
at power and force — how little could he defend thee. There- 
fore, ere I depart, oh, grant me this prayer, swear to me that 

57 



io-morrow evening thou wilt become my lawful wife — the- 
lawful wife of Antagoras of Chios, and through him summon 
around thee all the majesty of Greece? It is the best course 
to preserve thee from the fierce love of Pausanias. The 
daughter of a Byzantine might be unprotected; the wife of 
a Jonian captain is safe ever from the power of Pausanias, 
*'Cleonice, be my ivife, and deliver thyself at once from the 

Spartan power Once mine, all the fleets of 

Hellas are thy protection and our marriage-torches are the 
swords of a Grecian army!'* 

CLEONICE 

"Generous and noble Antagoras, be it so. I consent — 
take my right hand and hear my oath: To-morrow evening 
I will become thy lawful wife, the lawful wife of Antagoras of 
Chios. But I have a request to ask of thee, will you gratify 
myself by keeping, for my father's sake, all this secret?" 

(Their hands close in each other; he takes her in his arms 
and kisses Cleonice.) 

"A great marriage festival; in that manner — might pre- 
pare a strong motive for that sentiment of revenge on the 
part of Pausanias. Alas ! would probably lead to a fearful 

tragedy Under such circumstances my flight 

from the house of my father will be excusable, and the best 
step to take " 

ANTAGOKAS 
"Well then, my beloved Cleonice, all shall be kept secret 

58 



, . . . and now listen to me To-morrow 

evening I shall give a great banquet — a supper to the prin- 
cipal captains of the Isles — with Lydian music and dancers, 
the Jonian custom .... but I then will steal away 
with Uliades to await thee at the Temple of Aphrodite, and 
there soon afterwards our marriage shall take place. Will 
you consent?" 

CLEOmCE 
"Be it so ! I consent " 

ANTAGORAS 
"And at what time shall -I await thee, my beloved Cleonice T* 

CLEOMCE 

"To-morrow thou mayest expect me at the hour before 
midnight. I dare not come sooner. This time I come alone 
— alone in my little boat which lies yonder in that creek, 
overspread by the wild shrubs. I beseech thee, my beloved 
Antagoras, do not combat this resolution. 

"Each of us is watched in our villa by a slave, and an evil 
one — therefore none shall go with me. I fear — I fear it 

would be — into death Alone I will steal away — 

alone I shall steer to yonder trees, and alone I will go to the 

Temple of Aphrodite Antagoras, I will come to 

thee — alone I will trust myself to thy honor.'' 

(Antagoras kneels to the girl and kisses the hem of her 
robe.) 

ANTAGORAS 
^My beloved Cleonice, oh follow me to the terrace to take 

59 



«^ 



the greeting of Antagoras of Chios, a myrtle wreath, and 
under the stars, over thy forehead, entwine around, I implore 
thee, oh, Cleonice, my myrtle bough." 

(They go together to the background, and there he 
presents to the girl a myrtle wreath which his servant brought 
to him. She twines the wreath around her forehead. Anta- 
goras embraces and kisses Cleonice, and vanishing, descends 
to the beach.) 



60 



ACT III. 

Scene II. 

The Same Apartments. The day after, late in the evening. 
Indra, Cleonice'a maid, softly raises the curtain and the 
Persian Princess Xerxa and Astarte enter the apartment. 
Astarte speaks in a whispering voice to King Xerxes' daughter^ 
who seems to be deeply troubled. She then goes to the back- 
ground of the apartment, which opens upon the broad and ex- 
tensive balcony from where now Cleonice, dressed in a bridal 
costume, crowned with a myrtle wreath, slowly approaches. She 
looks with astonishment at her visitor. She greets calmly but 
with dignity. 

Unnoticed by them, Congylus with soft footsteps steals into the 
room, secreting himself behind the nearest pillar, where he 
stands motionless, all attention, gazing upon them and re- 
maining there. 

CLEONICPJ 
"Lovely maiden, what is it thou would^st have of me?*' 

XERXA 

"Oh ! thou art the fair and noble maiden, the young 

beauty Pausanias loves Oh ! pardon me if I came 

to see thee ! It is not a trifle which brings me to thee." 

Gl 



CLEONICE 

"And who is my sweet guest? We have not met before — 
not even in festal hours." 

XERXA 

"Oh, lovely maiden, recall the tales of a song — Aleman, the 
poet, loves to sing of, the adventures of the Conqueror of 
Platcea, and the willing flight of a Persian Princess with Pau- 
sanias from the vessel of her father, the great King Xerxes, 

on a night of storm Well, I am this Persian 

princess while King Xerxes' daughter. Xerxa is my name, 
and my soul belongs to Pausanias !" 

CLEONICE 

"Ah ! thou art the fair Rose of Persia ! . . . . Royal 

maiden, of thee mention is made in a letter which I received 
from Congylus only a few hours ago, he conjures me, if per- 
chance I should have the honor of seeing thee, to treat thee 

in the same manner as if thou were't my dear sister 

He has praised the qualities of thy head and heart." 

XERXA 

"And I beg thee, lovely maiden, to look upon me as the 
princess to whom my uncle Artaxerxes, whom I love and 
honor, has imparted by this letter, all his sentiments with 
regard to thy sister; namely, through the Priesthood of 
Delphi, King Xerxes, my father, has heard of a Pytheness, 
thy sister Astarte, and he should like to have her come with 

62 



me to Persia, to his court, to hear her answers from a Pythian 
shrine. I trust thee with this proof of my sincerity, with 
this sealed letter from my uncle Artaxerxes/^ 
(Gives Cleonice a letter.) 

CLEOXICE 

"But why so sad, royal maiden? Be it what it may — give 

it voice '^ 

XEPtXA 

"An hour ago, coming from the Temple, I met Congylus, 
it is he who told me that Pausanias loves thee '^ 

CLEOXICE 
"Why should I blush to own it." 

XERXA 

"You are silent, you turn away May the 

.gods be kind to thee ! . . . . And it is Congylus who ad- 
vised me to pay thee this secret visit to disclose to thee the 
situation of my affairs, but to quit your apartments as quick 
^s possible and never return to them again. And come what 
may, we should never relate what would pass between us — 
;not to any one, save thy sister Astarte . . . ." 

CLEOXICE 

"I understand thee^ royal maiden. Be it so 

^ut now speak plainly. What wouldst thou have me do? 
- . . . Tell me why thou art so sad?'' 

63 



XERXA 

"Ah! there was a time when I, now so sad, was such a 

joyous girl Oh, sweet maiden, thy kind heart 

is open in thy look, thou must feel my misery; I am in a 
foreign country, far from all my heart holds dear, to thee T 
must speak — a feeling irresistible in its impulse, induces me 
to disclose my sufferings. Ah, maiden, let me recall the 
past .... in order that no after discoveries might be 
prejudicial to me with thee. I tell thee the truth '" 

CLEOXICE 

"I love thee the more for it Thou lovest Pau- 

sanias ?'^ 

XERXA 

*^1 loved him during three wonderfully bright years which 
now appear to me ages ago, as of a portion of some former- 
existence; loved him with that adoring, confiding love which 
the young girl gives to her hero, her lover. Pausanias told 
me the reason why our marriage must be kept secret. Alas I 
I should as soon have doubted in Heaven as in Pausanias. 

. . . . I was assured of a legal marriage 

Pausanias deluded me into the belief that I was his lawful 
wife, but yesterday morning Pausanias stated how I had been 
deceived by a sham marriage, and that I, therefore, had no 
legal hold I am without friends, alone in By- 
zantium. I wrote to my father, I dared not deny the truth,, 
and with many tears, stated that I had been deceived, that T 
now know myself no longer to be Pausanias' wife. Since 

64 



I am with Pausanias I did not receive a letter from King- 
Xerxes, my father. But a few days ago, after three years 
anxious waiting, he sent me but gold, pearls, jewels, and this 

necklace Xo, there is not on earth a jewel that 

is worth one tear born of such grief \" 

cleo:n^ice 

"Alas ! a bitter song thou singest, royal maiden ! But thou 
lovest Pausanias still ?^' 

XEHXA 

"Yes, yes ! But that very feeling becomes intolerable, be- 
cause he grew cold and formal, and I can touch the sweet 
chords of love no more. With a charming air he contradicts 
everything I say. Well, though I cannot make him love me 
my pride finds great satisfaction in quarrelling with him, and, 
therefore, I do everything in my power to plague him. He 
shall not flatter himself that he shall ever break my heart. 
However, this queen in my nature, my pride does not allow 
me to bear all this any longer, for, indeed, it ill becomes one- 
of my rank to struggle for his love. 1 will appeal to Pau- 
sanias' knightly honor, to his ancestral chivalry, to dis- 
miss to her country their royal captive — the Persian Princess 

Xerxa, the daughter of the great King Xerxes 

My uncle, Artaxerxes, assures me that my generous father 

will pardon his child Yes, I will return to my 

country, for I am now but a poor little bird All 

those I see around me are my enemies, there is not one to con- 
sole me and none my grief to share Wandering 

65 



by some rocky steep I tell the tales of my despair, the echoes, 
■or the wild waves of the sea when they are lashing themselves 
to foam against the shores. Oh ! pardon me, noble maiden, 
but my throbbing heart, the power of my love to Pausanias 
compels me to speak from the impulse of my soul ! . . . . 
Thou seest how dearly I love him despite of all my hateful 
pride. But ere I depart to Persia, my country, grant me 
but one prayer and I leave thee. 

"My fate rests on what you say, therefore, oh, noble maiden, 
reply but honestly to one plain question, let me ask : Did, oh 
did Pausanias win thy heart? .... Tell me, have I 

to go to Persia But — but, if thou canst not 

love him .... if thou lovest not Pausanias, oh, then, 
I implore thee, speak to me the plain language of an honest 
soul . . . ." 

(Kneeling, lays her hand upon her breast.) 

"Be generous, maiden, hide not from me the truth ! Tell 
me, oh, do tell me ! On my knees 1 will try. Be merciful ! 
If thou canst not love him — oh, then be merciful and give 
me back his heart, that Pausanias may take me to his arms 

again And if then, generous maiden, thou willst 

help me, but let me kiss thy hand " 

CLEONICE 

(Lays her arms around Xerxa's neck). 
"Kiss my lips, which NOT Pausanias has touched !" 
(They embrace and kiss each other with tenderness.) 
"Now, royal maiden, listen to the words I will speak, and 
let new hope thy heart inspire. 

66 



"I am the bride of Antagoras of Chios, his fond heart will 
save me. I shall be married to him within a few hours. But 

noiseless must be my way. Spies surround me 

Alone will I steal the dear moment to meet Antagoras at mid- 
night at the Temple of Aphrodite, while my black slave will 
keep watch on the shore till my boat brings me there, till 
his fond arms shall shelter me " 

XERXA 

^^A worthier young warrior could not reward thee ! . . . . 
His noble character, his strong will and his fond heart will 

save thee I thank thee, generous maiden. 

. . . . I came in sorrow, thou art leading me to joy 
and hopes ! . . . . Farewell then, my dear, noble 
maiden ! Farewell, take this necklace as a parting token ; 
when thou wearest it to-night think of me." 

(She takes the necklace which King Xerxes had sent her, 
from her neck and hangs it around the neck of Cleonice.) 

(They embrace and kiss each other tenderly.) 

"Hark ! I hear my attendants." 

ASTARTE 

(Coming from the balcony). 
'^Oh, Cleonice, what is this? What does this mean?" 

CLEONICE 

"Astarte, ah ! Why thy sudden start, thy deadly pale- 
ness ? Thou frightens me, thou art in horror !" 

07 



ASTARTE 

^^Oh, Cleonice ! Oh, sister, I must tell thee I see horses^ 
and soldiers stationed in the shadow of the wall, and well do 

they obey of keeping silence Cleonice^ .... 

I fear that Pausanias gave orders to force thy removal from 
here. Therefore, Cleonice, fly, wrap thyself in thy cloak — 
come — come . . . ." 

CLEONICE 

"Yes, yes ! It must be ! I must fly ! That shall not be 

my fate Here, take this letter from Artaxerxes 

. . . . and now, darling, come, lead me through this 
small door. Through the garden to my boat, to the Temple, 
to Antagoras I will fly ! . . . .'^ 

(They are startled by a sound from the inner part of the 
house, footsteps are advancing.) 

(Astarte wraps Cleonice in the cloak. Cleonice stops and 
supports herself by resting her hand on the table, faintness 
is stealing over her, assisted by Astarte she tries to go on again. 
It is useless, soldiers and servants enter, Congylus approaches 
from behind the pillar.) 

CONGYLUS 

"Daughter of Diagoras, we have received orders to remove 

thee from the house of thy father Pausanias, 

oh, Cleonice, wants to raise thee to his heart's throne, wants 
to celebrate his marriage festival with thee to-night. In- 
deed, thou art far too beauteous to be the wife of Antagoras ! 
Soldiers, carry the beautiful captive away ! Quick or she will 
faint. Quick V 

68 



(Princess Xerxa runs with her arms widely extended to 
protect Cleonice, who drops senseless into her arms on the 

iloor. Xerxa kneels do\^Ti beside her Aleman 

-appears overwhelmed with mortification and rage 

He rushes with a drawn sword to Congylus.) 

ALEMAN 

(To Astarte). 

''Ha ! Shall I stand idly by, looking on while strength to 
strike in thy sister's defence lies in my arms? . . . , 
'Back men ! make way ! Congylus ! Wretch ! Ha ! Didst thou 
scheme this misdeed?" 

CONGYLUS 

^Tausanias/' 

ALEMAX 

"What care I what thou sayest Soldiers, I 

protest against this ! . . . . Halt ! Back men V 

CONGYLUS 

"Upon him, soldiers V 

ALEMAN 

"Coward, fight! .... Take this .... and 
this . . . ." 

(They draw their swords. Aleman strikes him, the shock 
l)rings Congylus to his knee, soldiers come between them.) 

69 



y 



CON^GYLUS 

"Upon him^ soldiers ! . . . . Ah, Heaven ! my arm 

I am wounded Be careful, men, lift up her 

head ! Now, soldiers, carry this beauty away. She is to be 
delivered to Pausanias this night It is done." 

(Several soldiers remove Cleonice.) 



70 



ACT IV. 

Scene I. 

In the City of Byzantium. An hour after. Antagoras, the ricli' 
Chios, gives a great banquet, a supper to the principal captains^ 
of the Isles; an entertainment which carries luxury and splendor 
to a wondrous degree, which it reached at that time in Asia>, 
and in such a city as Byzantium. 

In an immense peristyle of a house the young rival of Pausanias- 
feasts the chiefs of the Aegean. 

The columns of the peristyle are of alabaster, wdth their capitals 
richly gilded. The space above is roofless ; but an immense 
awning of purple, richly embroidered by Persian looms shade^ 
the banqueters from the summer sky. The couches on which 
the banqueters recline are of citron wood, inlaid with ivory, and 
covered with the tapestries of Asiatic looms. 

In the corners of the vast hall play four fountains, and their spray 
sparkles to a blaze of light from colossal candelabras. The: 
guests are not assembled at a single table, but in small groups ; 
to each group its tripod, of exquisite workmanship. With gar- 
lands each guest has crowned his brow, and in them are com- 
bined the flowers that most charm the eye — above all, the rose. 

The first and second course is over. The tables are covered with 
all the fruits in season, and with all sorts of triumphs repro- 
duced in confectionery. Vessels of perfumed waters, in which 
the banqueters dipped their fingers, were handed around by^ 
slaves. And now, for the first time, wine comes. Each one, 

71 



as the large goblet passes to him, pours from the brim before 
it touched his lips, his libation to the good spirit. And, Anta- 
^oras, rising first, sets this pious example. Out from the fur- 
ther end of the hall, behind the fountains, bursts a concert of 
flutes, the great Hellenic hymn. 

ANTAGORAS 

(Rising). 
"My libation to the good spirit !" 
(As this ceases^ up again rises Antagoras.) 

ANTAGORAS 

"This seems an occasion to revive the good custom of 
tyranny. And I propose to do so in my person by proclaim- 
ing myself Symposiarch and absolute Promander in the Com- 
monwealth here assembled. But if you prefer the chance 
of the . . . ." 

GUESTS 
(Almost in unison). 
"No, no, Antagoras, the Symposiarch, we submit. Issue 
ihy laws." 

ANTAGORAS 

"Harken, then, and obey. First, then, as to the strength 
of the wine. Behold the crater in which there are three 
Najades to one Dionysos. He is a match for them; not for 
more. No man shall put into his wine more water than the 
slaves have mixed. Yet if any man is so diffident of the god 
"that he thinks three Najades too much for him, he may omit 
one or two, and let the wine and water fight it out upon equal 

72 



terms. So much for the quality of the drink. As to quan- 
tity it is a question to be deliberated hereafter. And now this 
<iup to Zeus the Preserver." 

(The toast went around.) 

"Music, and the music of Lydia V' 

(Antagoras resumes his place on the couch beside Uliades.) 

ULIADES 

(Whispers to the host). 
*^Friend, thy father left thee wines, I know. But if thou 
^ivest many banquets like this 1 doubt if thou wilt leave 

wines to thy son But why dost thou bite thy lip 

^nd choke thy sigh ? By the gods ! Art thou not happy ?" 

ANTAGORAS 

"Happy ! Happy ! Oh, so happy ! But I do not know 
what it is ... . my heart is so heavy. . . . . 
Ha ! I wish it were time to go. . . 



7? 



ULIADES 

"Cleonice torments thee Be wise and do not 

show it Only two hours and she will be thy 

wife I myself have gone through thy trials ; 

.ay, and three times. Once at Rhodus, once at Miletus, and 
once at Corinth have I been a passionate and successful lover 
and husband. Courage! Cleonice loves thee, and she v.ill 
he at the Temple of Aphrodite " 

(Antagoras turns away. By this time many not invited to 
the supper come, as was the custom with the Greeks, to the 

73 



symposium, and behind the draperies appears an Egyptian^ 
bowing low, with dancing girls, they come forward and begin, 
their measure.) 

ULIADES 

"The music is dull without the dancers. Ho, there are the- 
dancing girls. Xow, look at these girls and try but for a 
few moments to forget Cleonice.'' 

ANTAGORAS 

"Forget what, or whom ? Cleonice ? Man, man, wilt thoui 
provoke me to strangle thee?^^ 

ULIADES 

(Edges himself away). 
"Ungrateful ! What are a hundred girls to one tried' 
friend r 

ANTAGORAS 
"I will not be ungrateful, Uliades, if thou stand by my side, 
against the Spartan." 

ULIADES 

''Tliou art then bent upon this perilous hazard?'^ 

ANTAGORAS 

''Bent on driving Pausanias from Byzantium, or into 
Hades — yes/' 

ULIADES 

(Holding out his right hand). 
"Touch ! .... By Cypris, but these girls dance like 
the daughters of Oceanus ; every step undulates as a wave." 

74 



ANTAGORAS 

(To his cup-bearer). 
"Tell the leader of that dancing choir to come hither." 
(The cup-bearer obeys. The Egyptian approaches with a 
solemn air to the foot of Antagoras' couch, bowing low.) 

ANTAGORAS 

"Didst thou ever hear of the Pyrrhic dance of the Spar- 
tans r 

EGYPTIAN 

"Surely, of all dances am I teacher and preceptor, oh, 
magnanimous." 

ANTAGORAS 

"Those girls know it, then?" 

EGYPTIAN 

.-"Somewhat from having seen it; but not from practice. 
^Tis a male dance and a war-like dance, oh, magnanimous !" 

ANTAGORAS 

"Hist, and listen." 

(Antagoras whispers. The Egyptian nods his head, re- 
turns to the dancing girls, and when their measures have 
ceased gathers them around him and tells the dancers what 
they are expected to do.) 

ANTAGORAS 

"Companions, we are bound now to do homage to our 

75 



masters — the pleasant, affable and familiar warriors of 

Sparta/' 

(The guests give way to their applauding laughter.) 
"And, therefore, these delicate maidens will present to us 

that flowing and Amathusian dance which the graces taught 

to Spartan sinews." 

ULIADES 

"Ho, there — begin \'^ 

(The dancing girls now come forward with an affectation 
of stern dignity. With adroit mimicry they mock that grand 
and masculine measure of Spartan austerity and decorum, 
and now the Egyptian, who withdrew for a few minutes, re- 
appears with a Median robe and mitred cap and throws into 
his mien and gesture all the likeness to Pausanias himself.) 

EGYPTIAN 

(Calling out in a barbarious African accent). 

^^Way for the conqueror !" 

(That raises the merriment to its height. The laughter 
of Antagoras alone is not heard — it is as if sobs of rage are 
stifling it ; but his eye watches the effect produced, and it 
answers the end he has in view. The dancers now, while 
the laughter is at its loudest roar, vanish behind the draperies. 
The musicians, the attendant slaves withdraw from the hall, 
dismissed by a whispered order from Antagoras. He now 
stands up. takes from his brow the floral crown, and first 
sprinkling with wine replaces the flowers by a wreath of 
poplar. 

76 



(The assembly, a little while before so noisy, is hushed into 
attention and earnest silence.) 

ANTAGORAS 

^^Jonians and Captains of the seas ! Strike if you will, but 
hear me ! .... A great battle was fought, and a great 
victory won by the Allied Greeks at Platsea. The gods smiled 
on our arms, and the gods of battles crowned our banners 

with laurels and glory But what a spectacle is 

now presented to the world when a traitor rises among us to 
crush our government and disheartens all men who have 
struggled for liberty. Greeks and warriors ! Again we 
must fight to secure independency to the Greeks, to deliver 
us from a Medizing traitor ! The Medizing traitor is Pau- 

sanias We fondly dreamed that in a few months 

it would have been realized — the vision of universal peace. 
From that dream we have been rudely startled by the be- 
havior of Pausanias. The Spartan is influenced by considera- 
tions which do not touch the interest of Greece, and it is use- 
less for those who wish for peace to talk to him .... 

he might as well talk to the winds The 

tyranny of this man, his avarice, his inhumanity are the true 
causes of the uneasiness which torments the camp. There has 
been a reign of terror in Byzantium, Pausanias does as he 

pleases ^Dead men tell no tales' is his verdict 

when planning the murder of human beings 

Jonians and captains of the seas ! Alarming news has 
thrown us into the utmost anxiety. Pausanias projects a re- 
volt, a conspiracy concocted by the adventurous spirit of 

77 



Pausanias has acquired considerable development. We are in 
possession of the most alarming proofs of his treason, of his 
secret intrigues with the common enemy, with King Xerxes. 
. . . Ye "understand me, ye know already that a delivery is 
to be achieved. . . . While I speak a swift sailing vessel 
bears to Sparta the complaints of myself, of Uliades, and 
of Jonian captains here present, against Pausanias, the Spar- 
tan General. Although the Athenian chiefs and Cimon have 
been persuaded to add to our public statement private letters, 
it carries with it a request to the Ephors, demanding Pausa- 
nias' recall." 

ULIADES 

(Rising, interrupts Antagoras). 

"And this is not all, for even if the Ephors recall Pau- 
sanias they may send us another general as bad, and without 
the fame which somewhat reconciles our Jonian pride to the 
hegemony of a Dorian. I am less against a man than a 
principle." 

(Smiting his breast). 

"I am a Jonian and against the principle of placing the 
Jonian race under the imperious domination of a Dorian. 
That is the true liver of Tantalus. Therefore, I say, NOW 
is the moment to emancipate our blood and our ocean. The 
hegemony of the Spartan should pass away!!!'* 

(Uliades sits down midst wild applause.) 

(Antagoras rises.) 

ANTAGORAS 

"Rightly and wisely speaks Uliades. Our cause is that of 
our whole race, and clear has he made it to ye all that we 

78 



3iiust not wait for the lordly answer. Sparta may return to 
our embassage. Oh, Greeks and Warriors ! We must not 
wait until the Ephors recall him, or until an Asian army will 
be on the frontier to help Pausanias to sovereignty. 

'^Whether to-morrow or later the occasion for action may 
present itself, but then, Jonians rise ! Eise ! Greece de- 
mands your help ! Rise and revenge our brothers — to secure 

(Now a murmur circles through the hall. Pausanias, at- 
tended by his live Spartans, suddenly appears; he has wisely 
laid aside the wondrous Median robe. He stands in the 
armor he had worn at Plata^a. He alone comes by the side 
of his rival, he does not appear to heed the embarrassment of 
his unwilling host, but turning around addresses some care- 
less words to the guests, and then quietly seats himself.) 

PAUSANIAS 

"Antagoras, I ask thy hospitality, a crust of thy bread and 
a cup of thy Chian wine.^' 

(By an order from Antagoras a table is brought, and the 
slaves begin to serve him.) 

"But where is mine host? Does Antagoras himself not 
-deign to share a cup of wine with his guest?" 

(Pausanias eyes him, and the young Antagoras feels with 
:secret rage the commanding eye. Pausanias motioned to him 
to be seated, making room beside himself, but Antagoras does 
:not obey.) 

PAUSANIAS 
■''^Thou art doubtless one of those who have already in- 

V9 



fringed upon the laws of military discipline and obedience.. 
. . . . A vessel without waiting my permission has left 
the fleet with accusations against me, thy commander, of what 
nature I am not even advised. Thou wilt scarcely deny that, 
thou art one of those who sent forth the ship and shared in 

the accusations thine ill will Why shouldst thou 

hate me ? Speak frankly ; frankly have I spoken to thee V 

ANTAGORAS 

'^General, there is no hegemony over men's hearts; thou 
sayest truly, as man to man, I HATE THEE. What for? 
Because, as man to man, thou standest between me and hap- 
piness. Because thou wooest and canst only woo to dishonor 
the virgin in whom I seek the sacred wife." 

PAUSANIAS 

(In rage, but with self-control). 

^'Thou art right ; all animosities may yield, save those whick 
a woman's eye can kindle. Thou hatest me, be it so as man 
to man. But as officer to chieftain, I bid thee henceforth be- 
ware thou givest me cause to set this foot on the head that 
lifts to the height of mine " 

(Turns on his heel and walks to the door, where he stands, 
apart, gazing on all the Jonians.) 

''What profane hand will dare to rob me of command?'* 



80 



ACT IV. 

Scene II. 

Byzantium. One of Pausanias' Rooms in the Citadel. Cleoniee- 
is to be delivered up to Pausanias in the night. Two soldiers 
make her step up with a flame-lamp into the room. Trembling 
and pale she appears at the threshold, there a while she stands 
in fear, trembling, covers up her shoulders, then entering, she 
struggles through the dimly lighted room, sees Pausanias, who 
lies sleeping upon his couch, clad in armor. 

Setting the lamp amidst the room, and kneeling by the flame, she 
watches him. 

A few moments and his light sleep falls from him. Still in hi» 
slumber, he suddenly on one arm rises, and clenches his hand, 
raising it up, begins to stare from one side to the other. Cleon- 
iee seeing this, a noble feeling of self-respect and her haughty 
self rises within her. She rises and stands firm and gathers 
her elegant robe with dignity around her, so doing while her 
right hand is trembling, she accidentally upsets the flame-lamp, 
the light extinguishes. Pausanias, so suddenly aroused from 
slumber, supposing that some enemy is about to assassinate him, 
seizes his sword which lies by the side of his couch, and with 
it in his blind fury with one fatal blow strikes Cleoniee to the 
ground. She makes no resistance, she utters but one tcrriblfe 
cry .... and dies of her wound. 

81 



PAUSANIAS 

'*^0h ! All the gods ! That was Cleonice's voice !" 
(Pausanias discovers what he has done, and recognizes 
Cleonice at once. Pausanias looks at Cleonice with a strange, 

puzzled look But then kneeling down in silence 

at Cleonice's side to ascertain himself for certain that his be- 
loved one is dead. He kneels with her head on his knee, 
fully aware that he has killed her. Awakening from his revery, 
he is startled by an alarming sound which first brings to 
his mind the terrible position in which he has brought him- 
self. 

A sigh flutters from his lips, he turns and flies in wild ex- 
citement. (Pausanias suddenly disappears.) 



82 



ACT IV. 



Scene III. 

Hn the same room of Pausanias in the Citadel, but a short time after. 
Syra and Indra, the attendants of Cleonice, and her black slave 
Afra, are standing in the background. They hold in their hands 
costly silver lanterns. Uliades leans against the wall, and his 
eyes rest upon the form of the virgin stretched lifeless on a 
couch. 

-Antagoras, bridegroom of Cleonice, very richly clad in full arms 
and all his honors, in anticipation of his wedding, which should 
have taken place at this same hour, is kneeling in silence at 

Cleonice's side Princess Xerxa kneels on the other 

side. A few minutes and Astarte, the priestess, appears at the 
threshold clad in long white vestments. Her luxuriant blond 
hair (of the same color as that of Cleonice) hangs loosely 
downward. 

Jler looks are bent obdurately on the ground. 

With the pale and dead whiteness of her face she looks like a 
ghost, and moves forward in deep silence, with outstretched 
arms, as if she were in a trance. 

_Antagoras, awakening from his revery, rises. Astarte kneels down 
at the same place and kisses her dead sister with tenderness. 
But now a slave throws open the door and ushers Aristides, 
Cimon and many chiefs of the fleet into the room. Their eyes 
fall on the form of the graceful virgin. They gaze with un- 
-disguised amazement in each other's faces. And amid the 

83 



chiefs Aristides' eyes glance around with an expression as if they 
were saying: That work of death should be revenged. An- 
other quick glance falls upon Antagoras, who looks fiercely 
around as if he were seeking the murderer. 

AEISTIDES 

"All the powers ! All holy gods ! Who can give us- 
though briefly an account of this most unhappy affair as re- 
gards this most awful misdeed?'^ 

ULIADES 

"By Pausanias is this scandal raised ! Ha ! 'tis a crime eO' 
mean Oh, so mean .... He was in- 
flamed with a violent passion for this noble virgin, the bride 
of Antagoras. Her father yielded to fear or necessity suffered! 
him to carry his daughter away. She was delivered to Pausa- 
nias, but, entering in darkness and silence, she accidentally 
upset the lamp. Pausanias, suddenly aroused from slumber,, 
supposing that some enemy was about to murder him, seized 
his sword which lay by his side, and with it struck the virgiit 
to the ground." 

CIMON 

"All this happened in an ill-omened hour, for just at this 
very hour a slave, a Helot, revealed to us the gigantic plots 
of his master — Pausanias — just now as those plots are on the 
eve of execution. He wanted to send his slave to Persia, to- 
carry a letter to Artabazos, but the slave, thinking it strange- 
that all the messengers before him never returned, opened the- 
letter and read in same that after he had told all, the slave 
should be killed like the others who had gone before him." 

84 



ARISTIDES 

"But this slave is already on the seas to make his escape. 
AYe have sent him with that same letter to Sparta, to the 
Ephors/^ 

ULIADES 

"Good God ! This wicked Spartan trods on kings and 
people, law and gods ! With arrogance he girts the post of 
honor and he knows no interest but his own !" 

ANTAGORAS 

"Oh, unjust fate ! My beloved Cleonice is silent — silent 
iorever ! For me, thy heart remains sacred, and thy name 
forever adorns the Altar of Love. 

"'Greeks and Warriors ! Here lies pale in death, crimsoned 
in blood — a virgin, the beautiful rose, the pride and glory of 
Byzantium — the Daughter of Diagoras, my sweet, my beloved 
bride. Her heart was pure and her blood noble. 

"Chiefs and Captains of tho seas, it is Pausanias, the Spar- 
tan Regent, the Admiral of the United Greek Fleet in the 
waters of Byzantium, who has drawn upon himself the heavy 
guilt of her innocent blood. 

"He, the terror of all Greece, has committed this awful 
■crime. 

"Chiefs and Warriors, / am resolved on revenge! 

''This terrible misdeed shall cost Sparta at sunset the loss 
of her maritime hegemony! We Jonians, hold together, if 
he will seek us, we are with the Athenians. We are citizens 
of a Republic in which the majority govern, and the majority 
at sunset will tell the Athenians how they are to act. 

85 



"Pausanias has deigned to come on board, to direct the 
manoeuvres at that time, we then shall come, the Jonians- 
with us, to harrangue against obedience to his orders to as- 
sault the Spartans. The vessels shall be steered with the. 
power of all their rowers right toward the Spartan's ship,, 
and my vessel's brass prow shall smote that gilded shield,, 
and shall rent that red banner from its staff. At the same 
time the vessels under Uliades shall strike the right side of 
the Spartan's ship to bring it in peril of sinking, to give 
to the Athenians the power to command the Grecian seas. 

"Chiefs and Warriors ! And from that hour in which 
Uliades of Samos, and I, Antagoras of Chios, insult the vessel 
of Pausanias, shall commence the sovereignty of Athens! 

Let it come like Jove's thunder from a calnx 

sky, and 'Revenge! Revenge!' is our battle-cry!'' 



86 



ACT V. 

Scene I. 

A Wild Landscape near Sparta. Forty-five days later. At 
daybreak of a summer's morning a slave is lurking behind 
a rock, now creeping under branches, the Helot, a giant, 
arrives at the edge of a small river. His dress is of rude 
sheepskin, and his cap made from the hide of a dog. An 
instant after Doris, an Ephor, appears. 

DORIS (the Ephor) 

"Art thou the new messenger from the distant camp who^ 
came from Byzantium ?'' 

GYLIPPUS HELOT (the slave). 
"Yes, Ephor, I am this new messenger.^' 

DORIS 

"Where is Pausanias? Did he make his escape from By- 
zantium ? Will he return to Sparta ?" 

HELOT 

"The Spartan Regent returns alone. He saw me, and for 
one hour Pausanias dogged my footsteps. I fled through 

87 



forest and defile; through valley and crag, he followed me 
closely and lost sight of all his followers. 

"I feared that he would come suddenly upon me. But now 
I wish to give you as quick as possible these secret orders, 
and this letter, which Pausanias, my master, intrusted to 

me " 

DOEIS 

"Well then, I Avill waste no further time and I will bring 
this correspondence to Periclides, the chief Ephor, and as 
soon as possible thou wilt hear from me." 

(He disappears.) 

(The Helot is reclining by the stream, at which with the 
hollow of his hand he quenches his thirst. Pausanias 
emerges from a thicket, he pauses and gazes upon the slave, 
and as he does so the Helot turns and sees him. He rises 
and fixes his eyes on Pausanias, and they gaze at each other 
in silence. Pausanias approaches him slowly.) 

PAUSANIAS 

"Stand and move not ! Where are my dispatches to Arta- 
bazos ?'' 

HELOT 

"Just before I gave the whole correspondence to Doris, the 
Ephor.'' 

PAUSANIAS 

"Wretch ! What do I hear r 

(Pausanias draws his sword. The Helot watches his move- 
Tnents, and seizes a rude and knotted club that he had laid on 
the ground beside him.) 

88 



HELOT 
"Thou comest for my blood, and thy compaDions are far 
.-away " 

PAUSANIAS 

"Wretch ! Barest thou attack face to face the Spartan Ee- 
gent, a descendant of the Heraclides ?^* 

HELOT 

"Be it so; in the city thou art the god born, I, the Helot, 
but a slave. Here on the mountains we are Equals. Go on, 
I care not for the rest '' 

PAUSANIAS 

"Wretch ! As for thy indiscretion thou canst not be ig- 
norant that thou deservest to die! .... Thou hast 
raised revolt among the Allies; at thy voice they have risen 
in bloody strife against me."" 

HELOT 

"Not at my voice but at Antagoras* hattle-cry 'Revenge!* 
I never harmed thee or thine ! . . . . Despite after 30 
years faithful service I became one of thine victims. Thou 
didst send me as a messenger with secret orders and a letter 
to Artabazos ; but doubtful of the fact that other messengers 
sent before me never had returned, I took warning at their 
fate and opened with anxious curiosity the letter which con- 
tained the instructions of my master, Pausanias. They should 
.stoop to the murder of me, a Persian dagger Death should 

89 



remove me from this world like the other three slaves, they 
who had gone before me. 

"Such is the honor of Pausanias, a Spartan!" 
(Pausanias jumps towards the Helot. He evades his sword, 
and Pausanias soon finds that he is a match for him. The 
Helot, dropping his massive weapon, draws a short knife 
from his girdle, but his foot stumbles; he recovers in an in- 
stant, and, looking up, beholds Pausanias' sword suspended 
over his head; but the blow of Death is withheld.) 

PAUSANIAS 

"I spare thy life. Kise, return to the city and forget 
that thou hast seen me. Now begone !" 

(The Helot rises ashamed and humbled, then taking up 
his club, he speeds without stopping on his way to Sparta. 
Pausanias looks hard after him, then, tightening the girdle 
around his waist disappears amidst the thick branches.) 



90 



ACT V. 

Scene II. 

A Beautiful Landscape. A few hours later. Afar in the exceed- 
ing clearness of the atmosphere lies the Temple of Neptune 
and the field of the Hellanium (in which the envoys of 
Greece had taken council how to oppose the march of Xerxes, 
when his myriads first poured into Europe). Upon a crag 
that juts over a silent hollow covered with oleander and 
wild roses, the young Spartan warrior, Lysander, is seated 
patiently waiting. He looks quietly along the road, when from 
behind, unseen by him, a young Spartan virgin advances. 

Her shape is that which the sculptors give to Artemis. 

Her luxuriant hair is drawn upward, braided into a knot at the 
crown of the head. 

Her garment of snow-white wool, fastened over both shoulders with 
large golden clasps is without sleeves, fitting not too tightly 
to the form leaving the ankle free. 

But now Lysander starts up in surprise when he hears a low musi- 
cal laugh behind him. Her mirth increases by his astonished 
gaze until in return he catches both her hands, and drawing her 
toward him, kisses, not without a struggle, her lips. 

Extricating herself from him, Percula puts on an air of offended 
dignity, and Lysander, abashed at his own audacity, mutters 
some broken words of penitence. 

91 



LYSAXDER 

"But indeed^ thou wert so provoking, so irresistibly beau- 
teous, so admirably fair ! . . . . But how earnest thou 
here, as if thou hadst dropped from the heavens?" 

PERCULA 

"Didst thou think that I could be suspected of following 
thee? .... Nay, 1 accompanied Euryclea to her 
home yonder, and then slipping from her by the door, I 
came across the grass and the glen to search for the arrow 
shot yesterday in the hollow below thee." 

(She seems to busy herself in searching for the shaft.) 

LYSANDER 

(Placing his hand to his heart). 
"Thine arrow is here." 

PERCULA 

^Tie ! The Jonian poets teach thee these compliments.'* 

LYSANDER 

"Not so, Percula. Who hath sung more of Love and 
Cupid's arrows than our own Aleman?" 

PERCULA 

"Mean you Pausanias' favorite foster-brother?" 

92 



LYSAXDER 

"Yes, Aleman, the poet, who even the Ephors sanction. I 
hope, Percnla, thou hast not forgotten me?'^ 

(Percula ceases to seek for the arrow, and they seat them- 
selves on a little knoll, side by side, and frankly she gives 
him her hand.) 

PERCULA 

"Ungrateful ! I forget thee ! I V 

LYSANDER 

"Thy image, Percula, has been with me in strange lands, 
and I have been faithful to thee amidst all the beauties of the 

isles and of the East And now let me speak 

of my doubts and fears lest I should find myself forgotten or 
replaced, and how overjoyed I have been when at last at to- 
day's festival your eyes replied to mine.'' 

PERCULA 

(Laughingly). 

"And we understood each other so well, did we not, Ly- 
sander? Here we have so often met before, here we parted 

last '' 

LYSANDER 

"Here thou knowest I should go ; here I knew that I might 
await thee ! . . . . And w^hen I return, ah ! then look 
and take care; for I shall speak to thy father, gain his con- 
sent to our betrothal, and then carry thee away despite all 
thy struggles to the bridesmaids, and these long locks, alas ! 
will fall." 

(He plays with her locks.) 

93 



PERCULA 

(Turns away her face, but holds up her hand in pretty 

menace). 
"I thank thee for thy warning, and will find ray arrow in 
time to guard myself; but where is my arrow? I must make 
haste and find it/' 

LYSANDER 

"Thou wilt have time enough, courteous Amazon, during 
my absence, for I must soon return to Byzantium/' 

PERCULA 

*^Art thou so sure of that?" 

LYSANDER 

"Why dost thou doubt it? What canst thou mean? By 
all the gods, I pray thee, speak plain V' 

PERCULA 

(Rises and moves the oleander boughs aside with the tip of 

her sandal). 

"If Pausanias be recalled wouldst thou still go to Byzan- 
tium ?" 

LYSANDER 

"No; but I think the Ephors have decided not so to dis- 
credit their general. The recall of Pausanias will be re- 
garded throughout all Hellas as a personal affront to our 
general, it will be an insult to the blood of Hercules.'' 

94 



PEKCULA 

"Count not on their decision so surely, valiant warrior ! 
Suppose that my father, Doris, will be sent to replace Pau- 
sanias ?" 

LYSANDER 

(Starting). 
"To replace the great Pausanias? Such a giant '' 

PERCULA 

(A little offended). 
"Doris, my father, is a warrior whom Sparta reckons sec- 
ond to none ; a most brave captain, and every inch a Spartan — 
tut— but— " 

LYSANDER 

"Oh, Percula ! Do not trifle with me. Thou knowest how 
my fate has been linked to the son of Hercules. Forget not, 
I pray thee, that it is to Pausanias I owe life, home and a 
/Spartan's glorious destiny. 

"I was born sickly, and the Council of Five ordained I 
should be exposed on Taygetus, but Pausanias took the for- 
lorn infant to his father's home and taught him how to fight 
ior his country. I have fought by the side of Pausanias, and 
I cannot dare to think that the great Conqueror of Plataea, 
the man who saved Hellas from the Mede and Persians, will 
receive other return than fame and glory." 

PERCULA 

"My beloved Lysander, we know thy affection to Pausanias, 
thy chosen friend, but we also know thy affection for thy 

95 



native Sparta, where the two may come into conflict, it is,. 
and it must be, thy country which will claim the preference." 

LYSANDER 

^'Oh, my Percula, thou must have intelligence not shared 
even by my father, himself an Ephor. What is it?" 

PERCULA 

"Wilt thou be secret, my Lysander?" 

LYSANDER 

"Fear me not. Is not all between us secret ?" 

PERCULA 

"Well then, early this morning, while my mother was as- 
sisting me in my attire for to-day's festival of Athene, Peri- 
clides, the chief Ephor, called at our house, and my mother^, 
after a conference with Doris, my father, said to me that 
Cimon and Aristides addressed a letter to the Ephors. They 
wrote that a Helot^ a 'true' slave from Pausanias, revealed ta 
them the gigantic plots of his master, and that Themistocles,. 
who is seriously compromised in the conspiracy of Pausanias,. 
has appeared this morning here in Sparta to play a part in 
coming scenes on which the curtain may remain unlifted for- 
ever — forever, because . . . ." 

LYSANDER 

(Wringing his hands). 
"The victor of Platsea, my friend Pausanias ! Impossible !: 
Impossible !" 

(There is silence.) 

96 



PERCULA 

"And there is a terrible story of murder circulating re- 
specting Pausanias, which has reached the Ephors." 

LYSANDEE 

*'By all the gods ! . . . . The blush of shame upon 
his cheek burns my own/' 

( Again there is silence for a few moments. ) 

PERCULA 

"If that is true Pausanias must resign his command and 

return to Sparta. Now, if Pausanias comes back 

Thou wilt remain in Sparta. Then my beloved Lysander — 
but — and — but what ails thee? Is that thought so sorrow- 
ful?" 

(Ijysander bows his face in his clasped hands. She puts 
her arm around his neck with a pure and sisterly fondness, 
and kissing his brow, whispers soothingly : ) 

"Oh, my beloved Lysander, I must ask pardon, that I did 
not think of this — that I said all this — but compose thyself; 
it may not be true. And if thou dost return to Byzantium, 
tarry as long as thou wilt, thou wilt find Percula the 
same " 

LYSANDER 

(With grateful passion). 

"The gods bless thee, maiden, and blessed be the state that 
rears such women. Elsewhere Greece knows them not."" 

97 



PERCULA 

(Raising her graceful head). 
"And does Greece elsewhere know such men? . . . . 
But— farewell." 

LYSANDER 
"But when to meet again ?" 

PERCULA 

(Turning her face while leaving). 

"Alas ! when we can. Look out ! Thou wert taught in 
thy boyhood to steal an interview. I will be thy accom- 
plice." 

(Percula disappears.) 

(Soon after the five Spartan Equals, Themistocles, Ale- 
man and several warriors all armed, appear. 

(It is the Spartan's return to Sparta, and the discontented 
peers, Aleman, and the warriors salute Lysander in dull and 
gloomy silence. There is confusion on their faces when the 
.young captain gazes at them in surprise. But quickly re- 
covering himself, Lysander, with the dignity of a chief, re- 
turns the salute.) 

LYSANDER 

"By the head of Zeus ! On the return to Sparta ! . . . . 
And Themistocles here in Sparta ! Pardon me, but, Aleman, 
I should like to learn more of these matters." 

ALEMAN 

"The Athenians are now the power that commands the 
^Grecian seas." 

98 



THEMISTOCLES 

"The Allies scandalized by a misdeed, concerted with 
Cimon and besieged Pausanias. Athens is now the Head of 

Greece The violet-crown city, the queen of the 

.seas/' 

ALEMAN 

"Antagoras came with his vessel and with him Uliades 
with his ship to an assault, and as they did so, hoisted the 
Athenian ensign over their own national standards ^' 



LYSANDEK 



"And Pausania 



&. 



}> 



ALEMAN 

"The brain of Pausanias whirled as the vessel shot along. 
He looked fiercely around, but then the whole of the tumul- 
tuous scene vanished from his senses. He sunk beneath my 
feet insensible of every danger. 

"And the proud galley of Pausanias was sorely damaged, 
with part of its side rent away, and the water rushing in, 
swayed and struggled alone in great peril." 

LYSANDER 
"By all the gods ! Speak Aleman, speak ! . . . . 
What happened to Pausanias, my great-hearted friend ?^^ 

ALEMAN 

"From that moment repose has vanished from the life of 

Pausanias. His mind is wandering He seems 

to be troubled by the phantom of a virgin, he the ill-fated 

99 



L.o^ 



man has loved and slain The Spartan peers and 

his warriors believe that extreme grief has deprived Pau- 
sanias of his reason/^ 

POLIDORUS 
'^Indeed, Lysander, to us it seems that Pansanias, the 

Spartan Regent, returns to Sparta as a mad man '^ 

(Spartans and warriors disappear.) 

LYSANDER 

"I would give all I have had this not occurred !'' 

THEMISTOCLES 

"Pausanias has succeeded in escaping from Byzantium. 
He is already here in Sparta. But here he is in great danger. 

"I tell thee, he has to fear the sharp jealousies of the 
Ephors, to whose ears the birds carried all tidings. They are 
too anxious to keep Sparta what she is." 

LYSANDER 

^'1 am perhaps too Spartan to answer rightly 

But if I am a Spartan, I am also Pausanias' friend, and I 
will serve him, who saved my life, in every way that may be 
lawful to a Spartan and a Greek." 

THEMISTOCLES 

"Well then, Lysander, draw back and hearken what I have 
to say: Pausanias' secret is lost. He must try to make his 
escape to Asia. He must fly over the dark hills this very 

100 



night in the direction of the Temple of Neptune. We have 
<jhosen the spot for the steeds to await him. 

"Princess Xerxa and her uncle Artaxerxes, prepared the 
way for Pausanias as a satrap of half the East. From By- 
zantium Princess Xerxa and the Priestess Astarte sailed on 

ihe ship Argos to Athens And there all is ready, 

everything prepared. The Barbarian Gold will both condemn 
^nd save Pausanias. For the rest we would spare him the 
^dishonor of being publicly disgraced. Meanwhile Arta- 
xerxes and his niece came here to rocky Sparta to see and to 
«peak to Pausanias. But now I leave thee. I will tr}^ to 
2neet Pausanias at the Temple of Athene." 



101 



ACT V. 

Scene III. 

At the Temple of Athene. The evening of the same day. In: 
honor of the Goddess Athene a religious festival is celebrated 
by the city. The youths and the maidens are moving behind, 
the Temple, and their march is regulated to the music of 
flutes and lyres. The maidens dressed in white, crowned witlii. 
garlands, bearing oflferings of flowers. 

They pause before the Temple, and the young men lead the sacred', 
dance, but then it becomes a young girl's turn to begin the choral- 
dance. Lysander stands by amidst the gazers, a boy pulls him' 
by his mantle. Suddenly all the voices are hushed, the crowds 
draw back, all stand still, all is silent, out of the great Temple- 
coming from its sanctuary approaches a majestic woman dressed 
in black, her very long white hair hanging down over her- 
shoulders. All know her. She walks down the steps. All 
make way for Alithea, the widow of a king, the mother of 
Pausanias, the Spartan Regent. She advances slowly toward. 
Lysander, he steps forward to salute the mother of his chief.. 
She looking at him, turns slightly aside and pauses. With a 
black veil she calmly veils her face and waits the approach of 
Lysander. 

He comes near alone, when all the rest and the procession have- 
passed away. Alithea removes her veil and looks into thej 
young Spartan's eyes. 

1C2 



ALITHEA 
"Draw near, Lysander. What sayest thou of my son?'' 

LYSANDER 
"I left him well, and . . . " 

ALITHEA 

"Does a Spartan mother first ask of the bodily health of an 
absent man-child? A king's widow asks a Spartan soldier 
what he says of a Spartan chief." 

LYSANDER 
"Oh, Alithea! All Hellas proclaimed that at Plataea, 
where all were brave, thy son, my chief, had been the bravest." 

ALITHEA 

"Where did my son, thy chief, learn to boast of bravery? 
They tell me he inscribes the offerings to the gods with his 
name as the victor of Plataea — the battle won not by one- 
man^ but assembled Greece." 

(A short pause.) 

"Lysander, speak to Alithea, if thou seest one cause why his 
mother should sacrifice to fear lest her son should break the 
laius of Sparta or sully his Spartan fiame. He should come 
back and be Spartan as his ancestors were. By this Temple I 
send him warning ! Say this to him if thou seest him. I 
have done, join thy friends." 

(Alithea slowly walks off. Lysander stands alone in a 
musing attitude. Coming from the background, Pausaniaa; 

103 



:flppears; upon his brow is no sign of guilt or fear; he slowly 
iidvances; he is clad in most brilliant armor; he still main- 
tains the majesty of a king. With a power in his eye he 
looks around and comes as proud as ever over despair, but 
when he, at this first interview in Sparta, accosts Lysander 
he then bursts into a fit of laughter.) 

LYSANDER 

"Oh, my Pausanias !....! am at thy orders !" 

PAUSANIAS 
"Oh, my Lysander, life is full of strange contrasts ! . . . . 

The glory of this world soon fadeth away 

Vanity ! .... Vanity ! All is Van- 

ity! . . . .- 

LYSANDER 
"Oh^ my Pausanias !" 

PAUSANIAS 

"Do not believe that the Conqueror of Plataea enters 
Sparta in triumph at the head of his victorious bands to seat 

himself on the throne of all Greece It was but 

a feverish dream All my intentions were disap- 
pointed by a terrible accident, and perished in a bloody action. 

This hand struck Cleonice down in the dark 

My enemies, who intercepted my flight from Byzantium, 
chased me, the Spartan Regent, the Conqueror of Plataea with 
some faithful followers to the ruins of a Grecian colony." 

(In powerless wrath.) 

"Oh, the accursed element ! Oh, that my enemies had at- 
tacked me on the land ! .... I see before my eyes the 

104 



-whole extent of my calamities. I see that either captivity or 
death will be my lot '' 

LYSANDER 
"Oh, my Pausanias !" 

PAUSANIAS 

"Listen, Lysander, I have something secret a ad grave to 
iell thee. Listen, draw nearer. 

"I am haunted by the phantom of the noble virgin I have 

loved and slain The horrid sight never leaves 

me, and Cleonice, but unseen, appears to me every night in my 
sleep, and a mere voice speaks to me in reproachful tones. 
Therefore, I took refuge at Heraclaea in that Temple where 
the souls of the dead are evoked, and there I appealed to 

Cleonice and conjured her to mitigate my torment 

Then I could perceive a glory pouring through the open door, 
and in the sunny mist of an opal light a woman — Cleonice, 
— white as a snow-flake in the frost, and there was right on the 
bosom of her white vestment a red spot. She came crowned 
with a myrtle wreath in her locks of golden blond, her calm 
face unearthly fair but with a light of horror in her eyes. 
Quiet calm, like a statue she stood in the lighted doorway, in 
her hand a silver flame-lamp Then I beheld a shadow be- 
hind the doorway, and a voice told me that on my return to 

Sparta I would attain the end of my sufferings 

Then there was an awful pause — not a breath — then the 
voice : ^Depart V And darkness and awe — the door closed." 

LYSANDEE 

"Oh, my poor Pausanias. thy breast seems to be filled with 
trouble The vision is but the effect of thy ex- 

105 



cited mind for all these and the loss of the maritime has. 
troubled thee much." 

PAUSANIAS 

"Then I had only one hope, one wish to return to Sparta 
to this Temple, and now I am waiting here with feverish im- 
patience, for I am sure Cleonice will make her appearance. 
. . . . Therefore, my Lysander, leave me alone in the 
dark. I wish to solace a melancholy hour, having Aleman 
singing to the lyre. Such music, those mystic transports 
must melt the heart of Cleonice." 

(Pausanias turns his steps and eyes in the direction of the- 
Temple. Lysander disappears. Aleman appears with his 
lyre, follows him and seats himself on a rock. Pausanias- 
stands before the marble steps. Aleman sings soft and low.), 

DEW-DROP. 

Dew-drop, why do thy tears 

Bathe the thorn of the rose? 

Why to calamity — 

Comest thou wailing 

From Day's golden chalices 

To weep on the sharp-barbed thorn? 

"My tears bathe the thorn 
To nourish the bloom of the rose; 
They give to the thorn-stem a blossom. 
Here, to the Iris a tint . . . 
Have not my tears been my glory? 
Tears drew me up to the sun." 

106 



(It is becoming dusk But then a sunny mist 

of an opal color appears to fill the air, gathering around the 
Doric pillars, around the graceful marble steps of the Temple, 
at the open door on which now lies the brightness of a fine 
moon night, and amid these, as if fashioned of light, rises out 
of the doorway a woman of resplendent beauty, Astarte, the 
priestess, in long white vestments. Her long locks of golden 
blond crowned with a wreath. She stands under the portico 
within the clear moonlight, quiet, calm, like a statue, in her 
hand a silver fiame-lamp. Astarte is very pale, she raises 
her eyes and meets those of Pausanias, and looks at him with 
an expression of pity. He at first turns away and shivers.) 



PAUSANIAS 

"Cleonice ! Cleonice ! Ah, thy sweet face carries a light 
into my dark soul. How bright is thine hair. 'Tis true it 
was a golden blond. But thy cheek is pale and thinner than 

it should be for one so young Cleonice, believe 

me, at that hour I had made up my mind to risk my life, 
my post of honor in fight for thee, to make thee my lawful 
wife .... Even ^\'hen horror chilled my blood my 

heart was filled with love for thee But, oh, thy 

shadow pursues me unceasingly .... Has haunted me 
through stormy nights and days In vain I im- 
plored aid of the gods and the exorcising priests " 

(For a few moments silence reigns unbroken; then As- 
tarte's eyes close, her form quivers, her lips part, and she 
then utters these words:) 

107 



ASTARTE 

"I am not Cleonice. I am but Astarte, her sister^ now the 
Priestess of this Temple. I was sent here as a messenger of 
the Pythia at Delphi, who looks out afar to warn of approach- 
ing trials But, Cleonice's dear spirit is near thee, 

she came to thee through the moonlight, thou feelest her 
mystic presence by the inspiring thrills of gladness which 

steal around thy sad heart She sent thee her 

forgiveness, therefore, Pausanias, sigh no longer for Cleon- 
ice But now listen: To my heart came flashes 

of thoughts from the glorious land of light En- 
abled to look into the past, seeing clearly the present, oft- 
times I may possess the power of prophecy, to warn and 
guard. 

"Therefore, Pausanias, I came to-night to give thee 
priestly warnings. Do not take refuge ttere in this Temple, 
it would be death which awaits thee here ! No blood would 
be spilt ; nor would be a hair on thy head hurt. With all 
thy Pride and Passion^s power, nerved with the strength of 
thy lofty will, with its impulses strong and high, thou 
wouldst be imprisoned in this old temple, where the floor is 

bare and damp with mold Warm with life, thy 

firm pulse strongly beating, thou wouldst be walled up 
within these temple walls. Dreadful irould he thy doom, for 
this temple would become thy living tomb " 

(With Astarte all the light disappears for a few moments; 
it is becoming dark, but then, gradually the daybreak of a 
summer's morning.) 

(Themistocles and Artaxerxes appear and approach Pau- 
sanias.) 

108 



THEMISTOCLES 

"Is it thou, Pausanias ? What a look of despair ! Let fool- 
ish people grieve and sigh Why wilt thou ruiu 

thyself by staying here. Think of the wrecked and scattered 
galley and vessels, yield to reason and necessity, and do not 
reject the proffered deliverance. The solemn assurances of 
noble and honorable treatment will be ratified in King 
Xerxes^ name by Artaxerxes " 



ARTAXERXES 

"Oh, Pausanias, do not think it a disgrace to be the vasal 
of the great King Xerxes. He is generous^ and Princess 
Xerxa is his best loved child. He will grant thee gold — 
gold and rich satrapies. 

"Come with me, try to make the escape to Asia, and in thy 
dreams of future power behold the fair rose of Persia 
crowned by thy side, let the royal Princess Xerxa be thy noble 
spouse. ^^ 

(Percula and Princess Xerxa appear. Pausanias' face 
brightens when he sees the princess. He comes forward with 
opened arms, and Xerxa, full of wild joy, throws herself in 
his arms and kisses him.) 

PAUSANIAS 

"Oh, Xerxa, my sweet rose of Persia, thou art not changed f 
And thy love is unmixed with fear !....! am now 
but an ill-fated man!'' 

109 



PKIXCESS XERXA 

"Oh, my beloved Pausanias, we are together! Oh! This 

is joy, joy, joy ! Oh, the happiness of these moments 

I know no fear Oh, my Pausanias, thou must 

know how — how I love thee (Kisses him). 

But, oh ... . thou dost not feel well 

Percula, oh, please, some water/' 

(Percula goes into the temple and returns with Astarte, 
who has in her hand a golden goblet filled with water. 
Astarte reaches the cup to Xerxa. Behind the temple comes 
Alithea, Pausanias' mother, her step quickens at the sight 
of Pausanias and Princess Xerxa. She overhears what her 
son says, and steps between them.) 

PAUSAXIAS 

"Do not check the tender tear to my miser}^ given 

I will fly with thee to Asia, my sweet rose of Persia, and de- 
spite of all the laws of Sparta I will make thee my lawful 
wife And I . . . ." 

ALITHEA 

"Xever and never shall King Xerxes' daughter become the 
lawful wife of Pausanias, the Eegent of Sparta ! . . . . 
The Spartan law and the gods forbid it. Byzantium's gay 
pleasures ; its luxuries spoilt thee. 

"Humble thyself, my son, and mourn that thou didst not 
perish at Plataea." 

(Now her eyes, as she speaks, rest with reproach in their 
gaze on the form of Princess Xerxa.) 

110 



"Daughter of the great King Xerxes, a king's widow and 
a Spartan mother gives thee warning, and says this : Return 
with thy uncle Artaxerxes to Persia, to thy native land. Glad- 
den the eyes of thy father. And Alithea will rejoice and think 
the gods have heard her " 

(Xerxa turns aside and takes a little flacon out of the 
bosom of her tunic, pours its contents — poison — into the 
water and drinks. Pausanias, seeing this, now takes the cup 
from her, puts his arm around her waist with tenderness.) 

PAUSANIAS 

(In a careless way). 

"My stern mother . . . . I wish to die and this will 
:give me rest too. I take the poison — death from my sweet 
love's warm hand — and thus together we go to the tranquil 
silver island .... there human laws will not separate 
us " 

(Drinks the rest and draws his sword, which he presents 
to his mother.) 

"Soon I will die, therefore taJce this sword which once thou 
has girded on, and as a Spartan mother I trust thou wilt he 
comforted for my misfortune by seeing the stains of blood 
<on my grandsire's sword." 

LYSANDER 

(In wild haste). 
"Oh, my Pausanias, the news I bear is very sad. Through 
me, now in the last moments, my father, the Ephor, warns 
ithee. Listen ! A slave revealed to the Ephors thy gigantic 

111 



plots, and gave to them thy despatches to Artabazos and the 
correspondence with the Persian against Greece. Therefore, 
Pausanias, lose not a moment, come, fly — fly. While I talk 
there goes on danger, for the tidings of thy coming have pre- 
ceded thee Come, fly, but over the black hills 

in the direction of the Temple of Neptune .... 
slaves are waiting there with the steeds." 

PAUSANIAS 

"And thou, my Lysander, wilt thou not go with me to 
Asia? Thou knowest that thou art dear to me as a brother?" 

LYSANDEK 

"I shall do all in my power to save thee — but — Oh, my^ 
Pausanias, Sparta, Sparta, is my mother !" 

(Alithea hearing this gives that sword in silence to Ly- 
sander, he then reaches his own sword in an asking, gentle 
way to Pausanias, who takes it, and, laying his arm around 
his shoulder^ Lysander's head, for a few moments, drops-, 
against Pausanias' breast.) 

PERCULA 

"Fly ! Fly ! Pausanias, fly !" 

(But Pausanias, seeing that Xerxa feels weak, he puts his- 
arm around her waist, and he and Artaxerxes try to take her 
Avithin the temple, but upon the upper steps she sinks down — 
dying. Percula and Astarte attend her in a loving sisterlyr 
way.) 

112 



PAUSANIAS 

(With tenderness). 
"Oh ! my darling .... my love, my own ! . . . . 
She is dying Oh ! her troubles were bitter '* 

PRINCESS XERXA 

"It is true, nothing has happened as I planned and hoped, 
but all is very good, for I am dying, closely clasped by my 
Pausanias' side, hanging about thy neck, still nearest to thy 

heart Artaxerxes, my dear uncle, hear my last 

wish: When I am from here in death, oh, then take Astarte 
and Aleman with thee to Persia to King Xerxes' Court. And 
pray be kind to them, they love one another. Let Astarte 
explain all to my father, she will do it in her gentlest way. It 
will be as if I had come fondly back to him." 

PAUSANIAS 

"Yes, and Aleman, too. He has a true and faithful heart. 
. . . . Soon he will have no tie in the whole wide world. 
. . . . The fairest rose of Persia is dead ! And now — 
now / will go to rest !" 

LYSANDER 

"Oh, my Pausanias, fly — fly !...." 

PAUSANIAS 

"I need not to fly, my Lysander. I feel that — death — i^ 
coming !" 

113 



(The Ephors, informed of Pausanias' arrival had dis- 
patched orders that the Spartan people should come to the 
Temple of Athene. A crowd of people rushes forward. The 
warriors mingle with the youths, maidens and matrons, and 
■^'terror is confined." .... For the guilt and disgrace 
of Pausanias is known. They look at him with cold ingrati- 
tude, the angry crowd with insolence and contempt. They 
want to see him delivered, either dead or alive, into the hands 
of the Spartan Ephors, to be disarmed and separately con- 
fined, so that the great and awful Heraclid might no more 
disturb the public peace. 

(Now the Ephors are coming, the representatives of the 
Spartan people. The Council of Five (5) men, all advanced 
in years. They are followed by the Helot, the slave of Pau- 
sanias, and the Jonian Ambassadors and Spartan Equals. 

The people rush on Pausanias, deeply aware of 

the disgrace and danger, and of the indiscretion of his slave, 
and viewing the Ephors coming as a signal of death, draws his 

sword Protected by Lysander and Themistocles 

that he might not become the victim of popular rage, and sur- 
rounded by his warriors, who had cut their way to his side. 
After a few moments hesitation, Pausanias turns, walks 
silently up the steps, enters the vestibule, turns and stands 
motionless with folded arms all alone under the portico of the 
temple. And now once more Pausanias attracts and satisfies 
the eyes of the Spartan people. His lofty stature and ma- 
jestic countenance fulfills their expectations of a hero. Every 
eye rests upon him. The guilt of Pausanias is no longer 
remembered, and murmurs of admiration are to be heard. 

114 



IBut then there is a deep, almost breathless, silence. The 
Ephors look forth and watch him. And now Pausanias meets 
the eye of the chief Ephor fixed on him so intensely.) 

PAUSANIAS 

(Haughtily to Periclides, the Chief Ephor). 
"You imitate Medusa, but I am stone already." 

ALITHEA 
"Use Lysander's sword and die as a Spartan V* 

LYSANDER 

(In wild rage). 
"Oh, Ephors ! The hero who rolled back the storm of the 
Tersian and Medes should not be insulted by an angry crowd 
in the face of all Hellas." 

THEMISTOCLES 

"Ha ! ! The Eegent of Sparta should not be insulted by 
-an angry crowd in the face of the government of his native 
<city." 

PERICLIDES 

(The Chief Ephor). 

"In the presence of Themistocles, the Athenian general, tho 

Persian Ambassador, Artaxerxes and the Jonian Commis- 

rsioners, by virtue of our high powers of authority, I, 

Periclides, the Chief Ephor, in the name of the Ephors, the 

115 



Council of Five, demand the word, and claim the right to 
speak. Spartans, a hostile commission was sent to Sparta to 
seize Pausanias' treasures, and criminate his actions, and. 
the letters and tidings they bring from Byzantium have 
changed all our, the Ephors, decisions. The Jonian Ambas- 
sadors speak of numerous outrages whereby Pausanias abused 
and disgraced the authority confided to him. They speak of 
'the conspiracy' of Pausanias, the Spartan Pegent, of a con- 
tract he made with the Persians. They talk of his betray- 
ing Hellas and Sparta And Spartans, Aristides,. 

the Athenian general, writes to us, the Ephors, that the Jon- 
ians have revolted from the Spartan hegemony, and ranged! 

themselves under the Athenian flag And he 

writes that if Pausanias remains to be Eegent of Sparta, open- 
war may break out Spartans, men and peers^ 

He who has been once the glory is now the terror of Greece F 

Pausanias is guilty of the darkest charges insinuated 

We, the Ephors, are in possession of the most alarming proofs, 
of his treason." 

(Approaching the Ephor, the slave draws from his vest the 
dispatches intrusted to him by Pausanias himself, and gives, 
them to Periclides.) 

''Here is Pausanias' correspondence with the Persians 
against Greece It shows clearly that he medi- 
tates some deadly injury to Greece, that he is Medicing a 

secret conspiracy with Persia itself These- 

'private dispatches affirm that the Conqueror of Platcea con- 
spires to seat himself on the throne of all Hellas. ...» 

116 



Spartans, it is for us, the Ephors, to decide what is our duty 

io the state Our duty is to act as a check upon 

Pausanias. 

'^Therefore, receive ye instructions from the Council of 
Five — from the representatives of the Spartan people : Pos- 
sessing jurisdiction we have accused Pausanias, the Spartan 
Eegent, and have brought his case before a court in which 

we ourselves are judges upon trial of life or death 

Pausanias has conspired against Greece. We know hut one 

sentence for him .... Death We have 

•condemned him to the death Pausanias, the 

Spartan Regent, must die as criminals die! For an example 
to all to take warning at his death and doom. It shall be 
known that for these crimes Pausanias will be stoned and 
thrown into this temple. He shall he walled up within these 
walls. 

"this temple shall be his living tomb/* 

(While the Ephor speaks, Pausanias seems to expect in an 
agony of grief, pain and terror, the death which he had so 
often braved in the battle of Plataea. He slowly sinks down, 
Aleman and Lysander and Themistocles rush up to his side, 
and in their arms he sinks down — dying. They carry him in 
the sanctuary and close the door behind them. 

(Now the angry crowd wants to rush into the temple, but 
Alithea steps up [all draw back when she is coming] and 
leans herself with outstretched arms against the closed tem- 
ple door After a while she hears a sign, the door opens, 
Lysander, Themistocles and Aleman appear. They go down 
Si few steps and stay there with drawn swords.) 

117 



LYSAN^DER 
(To Alithea). 
"Alithea, thy son is dead. He died in my arms.'^ 

THEMISTOCLES, LYSANDER 

(To the Ephors). 
"Pausanias, the great son of Hercules, is dead !" 

PERICLIDES 

"Pausanias is dead? Dead? Then this temple shall be 
his tomb." 

(Alithea leans herself against the temple door, with out- 
stretched arms, her long white hair and black vestments in 
disorder.) 



118 



15 1904 






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